Spent over 3 hours today wandering the trails of Seahurst Park in west
Burien. Noted at least two Black-capped chickadee nestholes, saw a Brown
Creeper strip a piece of Hemlock bark and fly off with it (followed by a
second Brown creeper, presumably its mate) and watched a Robin gather
dried plant stems. Starlings are already nesting in the attic of my
building and our few HOUSE finches are definitely paired. Our immediate
area does not seem appealing to House sparrows, however!

Numerous territorial songs were heard from Bewick's wrens, Song sparrows
(at least two different 'morphs'), and Spotted towhees. Winter wrens were
singing in two locations. While the Varied thrushes are no longer
visiting our condo patio areas, they were still found in the interior of
the Park today. Up to 11 Varied thrushes, mostly females, were flocking,
feeding, and disapproving of my gawking together with a bunch of Robins.
A single Oregon-type junco was spotted high in the canopy. Scattered
Ruby-crowned kinglets and a couple of still-around Pine siskins, along
with a Steller's jay and a lone Mourning dove plus a heard-only Pileated
woodpecker added to my list. Northern Flicker calls were frequent also.

At the beach small rafts of Barrow's goldeneyes, a pair of Common
goldeneyes, two fully-plumed alternate Common loons, scatterings of Surf
scoters, and two female Red-breasted mergansers were present. An OSPREY!
flew south along the beach, and it was obvious that the gulls, crows, and
ducks, with a small initial alarm, distinquish this bird of prey from the
more dangerous (to them) Bald eagle; an IMMATURE EAGLE soared over the
forest a short time later.

First-time-for-new-home-'n-area-TODAY birds include: PACIFIC
SLOPE-flycatcher, AUDUBON'S YELLOW-RUMPED warbler, VIOLET-GREEN swallows
(a group of about 7-9 over our buildings), and, to my delight, HERMIT
thrush has arrived!

I also noticed that our white trillium blossoms are turning striped
peppermint pinkish. The woods were also full of a distinctive, small
white-winged-with-dark-front-wing checkers plus whitish body with darkish
abdominal-rings butterfly. According to my fieldguides, I believe these to
be a species of Skipper, either Pyrgus albescens or maybe the Heliopetes
ericetorum. These were varying sizes from really quite small (under 1"
across the wings) to somewhat small (maybe up to 1.5" for the largest
ones.) Butterfly folks out there, please comment.

Fabulous, wonderful day!
Thanks and cheers,
Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu U of WA & Burien-Seahurst Park, WA

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage."
-Carl Sagan-

"We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities." -Pogo-