Greeting fellow bird enthusiasts,

Green Lake in the drizzle this morning. 07:00 - 09:00. SW-erly wind.
Carp are jumping, swallows are catching bugs, Buffleheads are courting...it
must be spring.
Here are the numbers (male before comma, female after, asterisk indicates a
note below).

pied-billed grebe 8
double-crested cormorant 8
great blue heron 1 (juv. plumage)
greater white-fronted goose 1*
Canada goose 29 + 3 cackling
domesticated goose 10
mallard 77,41
northern shoveler 1,0
gadwall 8,5
Eurasian wigeon 1,0
American wigeon 146,108
greater scaup 2,1
lesser scaup 1,3
bufflehead 58,32*
ruddy duck 1,4
domesticated duck 7
bald eagle 1,1*
American coot 405
Bonaparte's Gull 12
mew gull 89
ring-billed gull 11
California gull 2
Thayer's gull 1?
glaucous-winged hybrid 6
glaucous-winged gull 35
rock dove 12
downy woodpecker 2,1
northern flicker 1,1
tree swallow 16
violet-green swallow 96
American/Northwestern crow 17
black-capped chickadee 29
bushtit 6
red-breasted nuthatch 4
American robin 6
European starling 26
orange-crowned warbler 2
yellow-rumped warbler 4
song sparrow 4
red-winged blackbird 32
Brewer's blackbird 11*
house finch 6
American goldfinch 40
house sparrow 24


greater-white fronted goose; the bird that wintered here is still hanging
out with the domesticated geese at the north end of the lake. When will it
leave?

bufflehead; flocks of birds on migration, stopping off at Green Lake,
demonstrating the "courtship takes place during migration" part of their
life-history.

bald eagle; what is going on here? A pair was regularly at the lake until
the day the Discovery Park female laid her first egg (March 14, ten days to
2 weeks later than in the past six years). From then on I regularly saw only
one adult at the lake. Yesterday and today, two again. One big, one smaller,
I assume a male and a female. They sit close together, call to each other
and when perched closely the female gives the complaining calls I've come to
expect from a mated pair. I don't see any signs of a nest in Lower Woodland
Park (across the street from the lake at the S end). Am I looking at an
unmated adult hanging out at Green Lake, occasionally joined by an adult
from one of the many nesting territories in town? I should go check
Discovery Park. Who knows, perhaps they failed. This year they've chosen a
45' tree (compare that to the original tree that was 110' tall). In short,
I'm puzzled. Seeing two adults together doesn't mean they have to be a pair.
More as I learn more.

Brewer's blackbird; showing interest in the same low bushy evergreens just S
of the crosswalk near The Hearthstone, where they nested last year.
Something to keep an eye on.

Good birding!

Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com