Greetings fellow birders,

Did my weekly Green Lake (Seattle) count yesterday morning, starting in the
rain at 07:00, ending at 08:30, still drizzling. Temperature around the
10C/50F mark.

The water in the lake appears quite clear, no dense algae yet. Millfoil is
being harvested to keep at least the boating lanes open. Water lilies have
reached maximum density, flowers waiting for nice sunny days.

Carp have been spawning on and off, it appears there is a 2-3 week cycle,
with peaks of activity on overcast days, the fishes splashing around among
the lilies, doing considerable damage to Pied-billed Grebe nests (see
below).

Legend: in case of multiple numbers, first = male, second = female, third is
young, in parenthesis the brood sizes. Asterisk means a note following the
list.

Pied-billed Grebe* 17,9 (2,7)
Great Blue Heron 1
Canada Goose 220, 9 gosl (3,3,3)
Domesticated Goose 11
Mallard 47,8
Gadwall 5,3
Domesticated Duck 10
Bald Eagle* 2 subadult
American Coot 2
Killdeer 2
Glaucous-winged Gull 11
Caspian Tern* 3
Rock Dove 24
Belted Kingfisher 1,0
Downy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 1,0
Violet-green Swallow 18
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 4
Cliff Swallow 8
Barn Swallow 48
American/Northwestern Crow 20
Black-capped Chickadee 16
Bushtit 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 4
American Robin 2
European Starling 35
Orange-crowned Warbler* 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 8
Townsend's Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 3
Red-winged Blackbird 58
Brewer's Blackbird 19
House Finch 2
House Sparrow 38

Pied-billed grebe; one nest in the cattails had six eggs, two disappeared in
the 24 hours preceding hatching (I have no idea), four hatched, two survived
till yesterday morning (3+ weeks). The pair has started building a new nest
in their territory, this time out among the lilies; I will be keeping an eye
on their attempts at a second brood.
Another nest had seven eggs, all seven hatched (over three days ending the
day before yesterday), at least one chick got separated from adults
yesterday afternoon and most likely drowned (young grebes will get
waterlogged and drown, their parents function as a surrogate nest, when out
of the real nest).
Five more pairs are attempting to nest (along the Aurora Avenue strip),
among the lilies, but in two, complete clutches mysteriously disappeared
recently, two others have lost partial clutches to carp spawning activity,
and one more may be ready to start laying eggs any day now. The carp splash
around at the surface, some of them are so big (most 13-16 cm [5-6"] , some
63 cm [25"]) their activity can easily destroy (blow apart) the floating
mass of plant material which makes up a pied-billed grebe's nest. In theory
carp just bumping nests could dump eggs out of the nest into the water,
fresh eggs will then sink.

Bald eagles: until 3 weeks ago an adult female and a subadult
(osprey-stripe) male were hanging out at the lake, 80% of the time I was
there. They were spending the nights in evergreen trees in Lower Woodland
Park and acted like a pair (throwing heads, talking to one another, etc.)
and acted as if Green Lake was their territory (chased other adult off). I
was hoping they would start building a nest somewhere in late summer, for
next year. However, the female disappeared, perhaps disgusted with how many
people/boats appear on the lake when the sun comes out; although she spent
lots of time in the trees on the island and the cottonwoods on Gaines Point
(NE side), with tons of people apparently not bothering her.
A third-year bird (all dark brown, some white underneath wings, with jagged
trailing edge of wings indicating some juvenal feathers had been replaced
last summer, plus a few primaries missing right now), which had been seen in
Woodland Park several times these past few months, now has taken up spending
more time at the lake, following the subadult male around. When he flies out
over the lake, so does the youngster. When he sits in the top of the trees
on the island, so does the youngster (sex undetermined, not much bigger than
subadult male, so could be a male too). The youngster has a much higher
pitched voice than the subadult male. The subadult male has taken to
"hiding" among the foliage of trees on the island; at times only part of his
tail shows when he perches on a branch below the top of trees. It will be
interesting to see what's going to happen next.

Caspian tern: every morning between 6 & 8, and evening after 8, when I am at
the lake I see three adult Caspian terns flying over the lake for anywhere
from 2 - 15 minutes. I don't know where they come from or where they are
heading. I just know they occasionally harass the eagles (in flight) and
plunge down for an early/late snack.

Orange-crowned warbler: in the willows near the Aqua Theater. Usually passes
through earlier (as they did this year). Not an unusual species for the
area, just unusual at Green Lake on this date (in my limited experience).

Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com