Subject: Green Lake (Seattle) count March 31 (long)
Date: Mar 31 09:01:39 1999
From: Martin J. Muller - MartinMuller at email.msn.com


Good day tweeters,

Walked Green Lake this morning and did my weekly count.
06:00-07:30, light N wind, 35F, partially cloudy.

Legend:
Before comma = male, after = female, asterisk indicates a note at the end.

Pied-billed Grebe 3
Western Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 28
Great Blue Heron 1
Canada Goose 15
Domesticated Goose 8
Mallard 27,20
Gadwall 8,9
Eurasian Wigeon 2,0 (1 hybrid.)*
American Wigeon 127,83
Greater Scaup 1,0
Lesser Scaup 8,2
Common Goldeneye 3,3
Bufflehead 143,128*
Common Merganser 6,1
Ruddy Duck 8,15
Domesticated Duck 11
Bald Eagle 1,1*
American Coot 495*
Mew Gull 42
Ring-billed Gull 18
Glaucous-winged hybrid gulls 6
Glaucous-winged Gull 21
Rock Dove 24
Belted Kingfisher 1,0
Downy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 2,2
Tree Swallow 10
Violet-green Swallow 100
American/Northwestern Crow 43
Black-capped Chickadee 16
Bushtit 20
Red-breasted Nuthatch 4
Brown Creeper 2
Winter Wren 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 20
American Robin 10
European Starling 40
Yellow-rumped Warbler 9
Townsend's Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco 14
Red-winged Blackbird 35
Brewer's Blackbird 19
House Finch 6
American Goldfinch 12
House Sparrow 40

Eurasian Wigeon: 2 regular males, one obvious hybrid; the latter has the
cream crown of the American Wigeon, a dark eyestripe like American Wigeon,
except that the colors are mixed green and dark reddish of Eurasian Wigeon,
the breast (pink) and flanks (gray) as in Eurasian Wigeon. Actually quite a
handsome bird.

Bufflehead: 371 is highest count since 1989 (when I started this), previous
highs around 150 on 3/27/97 & 3/11/98. So the timing at least is consistent.

Bald Eagle: Incubation proceeding normally (assuming there is an egg), male
and female taking turns. Twice I checked who does the night shift by
observing around twilight and well before sunrise. Both times I found the
female doing the night shift (assuming they don't switch twice in the dark),
which is consistent with what has been observed at other Seattle area nests.

American Coot: unusual foraging behavior by one individual, walking,
balancing along the small horizontal branches of a willow (two feet above
water) feeding on young leaves/buds.

Cheers,
Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com