Hi, all. Finally found the time and energy to do a little serious birding
this weekend.

The weekend started well. Saturday morning I was in Lacey for a haircut and
decided to deposit a check at the Lacey credit union. The parking lot was
absolutely packed (at 10:45 on Saturday morning!), and even the five or six
drive-through lanes were stacked five cars deep! Anyway, it turned out to be
a blessing in disguise. I was sitting in line, idly listening to the radio
and watching the gulls circle overhead, when a very large and un-gull-like
shape wheeled into view. As it came closer I noticed it had a dark body and
white head--a BALD EAGLE, at about 20-30 feet/6-9 m up.

Later in the day I took a jaunt down to Capitol Lake for some more serious
birding. Lots of gulls, of course, in varying degrees of immaturity and with
varying amounts of black in their wingtips (I don't do gulls).

There was a cold-looking (?immature female?) NORTHERN FLICKER, with deep gold
wing linings, no moustache, and just a faint rusty cast to the top of its
otherwise gray head.

Most of the usual passerine suspects were present as well. There were
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, a BEWICK'S WREN, a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, and
several AUDUBON'S WARBLERS foraging in the rose bushes. SONG SPARROWS darted
around in the underbrush at the waterline, and the blackberry bushes were
full of very tiny, very energetic, and very bold RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS.

In with the Kinglets I discovered a WARBLER. It looked basically like a
female Wilson's, bright olive above and yellow below, dusky on the wings and
tail, with green cap and yellow eyebrow; but there was some streaking on the
breast and what appeared to be a whitish patch around the vent. Could have
been a particularly yellow Orange-Crowned, I guess, but the timing is all
off, whatever it was.

Anyway, the waterfowl were the real highlight of the trip. There were at
least two winter-plumage DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS in evidence and a flyover
by a gorgeous GREAT BLUE HERON.

As expected, MALLARDS were sprinkled liberally around the edges of the lake.
The area was also packed with BUFFLEHEADS, the females in small groups of two
to five around the edges of the lake and the males all bunched up together in
the center. In one of the accessory ponds I chanced upon two female NORTHERN
SHOVELERS.

As you all well know, binoculars make all the difference. With the naked eye
all you can see are little black dots bobbing in an expanse of flat, gray
water. Under magnification, however, these become small groups of
GREEN-WINGED TEALS, AMERICAN WIGEONS, CANVASBACKS, and GREATER (?) SCAUPS;
two male COMMON GOLDENEYES with a large harem of females; and a pack of at
least 137 AMERICAN COOTS. As I left I spied an absolutely exquisite male
HOODED MERGANSER in one of the smaller ponds.

On the way home I stopped to have a look at the lower basin as well. Here
were more gulls, Mallards, Scaups, and Buffleheads, along with a large band
of RUDDY DUCKS.

All in all, a very pleasant way to spend two hours on a cold, crisp December
afternoon.

A quick survey of one of the local ponds on Sunday revealed great quantities
of RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, along with SONG SPARROWS and BEWICK'S and WINTER
WRENS. A pair of female BUFFLEHEADS and a male BELTED KINGFISHER rounded out
the picture.

Happy birding and good luck with all your CBCs!

--Nick Pharris
Olympia, WA
mailto: NJPharris at aol.com