What an exquisite day.......blue skies and sun, balmy, insects
flying about (hopefully, the swallow seen yesterday at Des Moines
Marina can get something to eat), people in shirtsleeves, kids wading in
the Sound.........What???!!! It's November 28th!

Seahurst Park north section forests: Birds were relatively scarce during
the survey from about 1:30PM-4:15PM (near sunset.) A couple of WINTER
Wrens, a male ANNA'S Hummingbird, a few SONG Sparrows, one FLICKER,
several GOLDEN-CROWNED Kinglets, the requisite BLACK-CAPPED and
CHESTNUT-BACKED chickadees (again, just a very few seen), a moderate sized
(35 or so) flock of COMMON BUSHTITS, a single PILEATED woodpecker, and a
single BELTED Kingfisher-heard only (near the salt water) were all id'd
mostly by call. There were numerous ROBINS moving through the canopy, and
the 'bird of the day' in the forest was the VARIED Thrush. These
beautiful thrushes have moved into this community in numbers. At least
a dozen were spotted, mostly males, and mostly feeding on Madrone tree
fruits, along with many Robins.

The 'bird of the day' on the saltwater was the RED-BREASTED Merganser.
There were several scattered groups with perhaps up to fifty birds total.
Typical for this time of year off of Seahurst Beach, several COMMON Loons
were feeding, both close to shore and quite far out. A binoc scan across
the water from the south end of the beach path all the way past the Marine
Occupational Skills Center at the north end revealed thousands of birds
scattered across the miles of water..............primarily scoters and
grebes. A scope would be be useful here.

Closer to shore, I saw within about the same binocular view, BARROW'S and
COMMON Goldeneyes, HORNED Grebes, WESTERN Grebes, BUFFLEHEADS, (male)
RED-BREASTED Mergansers, SURF and WHITE-WINGED Scoters, and further away,
a Common Loon. It was an remarkable and delightful example of the way the
patterns and "textures" of black and white can be expressed in the plumage
of these various species. I also noted that both the Surf Scoter and
Barrow's Goldeneye males were performing courtship displays. As there
were very few females present in their groups, most of the activity
involved the males chasing each other away from the scarce females.

Cheers,
Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu U of WA & Burien-Seahurst Park, WA
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"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-