Hello Tweets:
This morning while southbound on the West Valley Highway in front of the
Boeing Kent Space Center I was on the lookout for the resident lamppost hawk,
and sure enough a little was south of the main Boeing road she/he was on a
lamp post at its customary position. I don't know what kind of hawk it is,
but it is large and I think it's a Red Tail. (It goes by real quick, and I
don't think I have enough experience to identify it even if I stood and looked
at it for a while.) Just past the hawk but on the ground, there was a great
blue heron keeping watch on the deep ditch that was filled with running muddy
water. This GBH had a much more pronounced white crown than I have ever seen
before.
Later, around noon, I was walking along the Green River by "The Old Fishing
Hole" in Kent and I saw what I first thought was a Green Heron flying up the
middle of the river, about 50 yards away from me. I didn't have my binocs,
but watched as it headed upstream and settled into a large patch of brush on
the west bank. This is in an area where I have previously seen green herons,
but this bird seemed too large to be a green heron, and it was light colored
(light tan?). Also I think I remember posts to this list that say that green
herons just pass through here during migration. Anyway, I recognized that
this bird had its neck pulled back like I have seen herons do during flight.
I lost sight of it on its final landing approach to the brush, but saw enough
of it to see the legs and neck extend at about 400 yards before it disappeared
from view. The neck in extension was similar to what I have seen on a green
heron though it was proportionately a little bit shorter. This bird was
probably about the size of a mallard in length, with a significantly larger
girth. Could this have been an American Bittern? I saw one of those guys
about 4 years ago at Nisqually, before I had much of an interest in birding.
The one at Nisqually was on a snag in a pond, behind a lot of brush and flew
away when I looked at it, so don't remember a lot about it, but today's bird
seems to be more American Bittern than anything else I can come up with. Any
other ideas? (Besides - carry your binocs the next time.)
Jim Brewster
Kent Washington
BrewsPad at aol.com