Tweeters,

Saturday 10/16 we had a nice stroll around Green Lake Park from 8 - 11 AM
(free bird walk through the Green Lake Park Alliance, first & third Saturday
each month through April).

There were 5 Western Grebes (Aechmophorous occidentalis) present, which is
not unexpected this time of year.

The past two weeks there has been a single male American Wigeon (Anas
americana). Shortly after we started walking 5 wigeons circled and landed
right in front of us. Turned out to be 2 male and 2 female "Americans" and
one male with several "Eurasian" field marks. The chestnut head, with a very
faint forhead/crown patch, some faint green around the eyes, the pinkish
breast and some gray on the flank along the water line, but then a lot of
brown above that (on the flank). Molting or a hybrid?
I thought this was an early date for this species (hybrid or not), but
checking my records (going back to 1988) it looks pretty much on schedule.
Third or fourth week of October (see, there's a reason I write this stuff
down...my memory is worth zip...).
In a few weeks there should be 300 "Americans" with 2-3 "Eurasians" around.

We had an adult Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) perched alternately on
the island or in trees in Woodland Park. Nice to see a bird back; right on
schedule. There is no way to know if it is one of the members the Green Lake
nesting pair. Last year the female had remnants of immature plumage, this
bird looked big enough to be a female. If it was the Green Lake female, she
lost all brown feathers on the head (didn't see the tail up close in the
perched bird, but in flight the tail appeared "clean"). Hopefully the bird's
presence means we will have one or two birds spending the winter on the lake
again.

As we approached the Pitch-n-Putt golf course an accipiter flew across the
path in front of us, from the willows along the water to the trees on the
golf course. Last year I would have identified it as "accipiter sp." This
year, after having spent several days in the blind up on Chelan Ridge
(Cooper Mountain) as one of the lucky volunteers receiving training in
trapping and banding raptors under the expert guidance of people like Bud
Anderson, Mark Gleason, Ed Deal and Kent Woodruff, I guess I did learn a few
things about split-second id. of accipiters. Without knowing exactly why I
blurted out "adult female Cooper's Hawk" (Accipiter cooperii). Thinking
about it later I realized size, relatively slow wingbeat, head sticking out
well in front of leading edge of wings and slate-gray back all contributed
to this "call." Luckily we found the bird perched high up in a tree and
through our scopes we confirmed the nice dark "crest" and the "pencil-thick"
tarsi (for species), in addition to the horizontal rufous/cinnamon barring
on the breast and a dark eye (for age).
The bird behaved somewhat strange, flitting/fluttering through the tree,
short hops. It took us a while to realize she was "chasing" a squirrel,
more-or-less on foot. The squirrel got away and after about 8 minutes the
gorgeous hawk flew off.

We saw only one each female Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis), female Common
Merganser (Mergus merganser), Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon), Killdeer
(Charadrius vociferus).

The gull selection was slim but cooperative (often two species standing side
by side): Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus ), Ring-billed Gull (L. delawarensis),
Mew Gull (L. canus), California Gull (L. californicus), and some pink-legged
hybrids.

To complete the list:

Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Black-capped Chickadee (Parus atricapillus)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
American Godlfinch (Carduelis tristis)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

As winter closes in we ought to get more water birds which should jack the
number of species seen on these walks up a bit (usually 35-40 species total
on a given winter day).

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