Hi folks,

Got invited to a morning of birding with Tom Foote, Scott Richardson, Jim Pruske and
Russell Rogers this morning. We went on out to the WDFW lands out on Scatter Creek,
about 12 miles south of Olympia. This area contains a lot of the "mounded", Mima-type
prairie, oak woodlands, some fir timber, and the savannahs were in bloom!

We saw (or heard...):

Great Blue Heron - 1
Canada Goose - moffitti
Mallard
Hooded Merganser
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk - N unit
N Harrier - 1 male along Case Road
Turkey Vulture - 2 at N unit
Killdeer - N unit
Ring-necked Pheasant
N Bobwhite - 1 dead bird at N unit
Band-tailed Pigeon
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher - 1 male
Red-shafted Flicker
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker - 1 at North unit
Steller's Jay
Crow
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow - on wires along Case Rd
Am. Robin
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee - North Unit
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren - North unit
Common Bushtit - N unit
Red-breasted Nuthatch - N unit
Yellow-rumped Warbler
-- Audubon's
-- Myrtle
Black-throated Gray Warbler - N unit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat - thick in the Scot's Broom
Evening Grosbeak
Purple Finch
Chipping Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Oregon Junco
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow - Pugettensis
Savannah Sparrow - abundant
Red-winged Blackbird - along Case Rd
Western Meadowlark
Brown-headed Cowbird
Starling

Black-tailed Deer - 2 adults and a 'yearling'.
Garter Snake

Jim said he saw a Kestrel 'way, 'way high bothering a pair of Red-tails riding a thermal.
Russell promised us a Hutton's Vireo, but we couldn't come up with one.

On the way back to Oly, we swung past Capitol Lake, where we saw Bonaparte's &
Glaucous-winged Gulls, Bufflehead, L Scaup, Common Loon, Pelagic & Double-crested
Cormorants. There were House Finches at Russell's place. Finally saw a House Sparrow
when we got back to the parking lot in W Olympia.

If you get a chance, take the opportunity to get out onto the Prairies before the Spring flowers
are done blooming. I noticed the following: Yellow lomatium (L utriculatum); Shooting-star
(Dodecatheon sp); Violets (blue & yellow on the prairies, 'johnny-jump-ups' in the woods);
buttercups; Camas is starting to bloom; Wild Strawberry; Spring Beauty (Clintonia); Oregon
Grape; a pink (Silene?); some sort of saxifrage; and that darned little white-flowered crucifer
that I've never keyed-out.

All-in-all, an excellent way to spend a beautiful Spring morning.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net