Subject: Forest & Howarth Park, Everett
Date: Sep 9 16:47:13 1999
From: Darryl Thompson - birds at cmc.net


Greg and tweetsters: Since I led this trip I'll through in my two cents
worth too. We started at a little after 7:00 AM at Forest Park and then
walked down Pigeon Creek #1 til about noon. After lunch we drove down to the
lower parking lot at Howarth Park and walked up the wooden path to the base
of the concrete stairs. We had been hearing both chickadees and other seets
and kips and to our pleasant surprise we were in the midst of a mixed flock
of several species of warblers and vireoes. Donna already listed the
observed species, but the best was the black and white warbler. This bird
was a fine example of a first fall adult male. This particular bird had a
fully white throat with the black eye-line thin, but prominent. The black
auriculars were absent, but the white median crown stripe was distinctive. A
good look at the undertail coverts showed distinctive black spots as did the
sides of the breast and flanks. As most of you know the behavior of these
little rarities is almost nuthatch like and this little fellow was no
exception. He was working the branches and trunks of willows, maples and
alders and poking under loose bark for all he was worth. He got quite close
on several occasions, but never was still for very long as is their wont.

We encountered many other warblers on Sat. at Rosario Beach Park (Just west
of Pass Lake) at about 8:30 AM in the parking lot in one tree! No black and
white, but just about everything else you might imagine for this time of
year; Org. Crn. Warb, both yellow rumps, yellow, townsends', nashville,
MacGillvary's and several vireoes. I didn't post the trip, because of being
in the field for five days in a row, but we recorded over 103 species and
only covered half the Island(Whidbey). On the way home I stopped off in
Smokey Point to show one of the attendees her first owls at one of *my*
spots. We jumped several, but the best was a nice barnie that came out of
the thick cedars to fly around in the parking lot, under the lights for a
full 360 degree view less than 30 yards away.

We also saw a Great horned, West. screech, Northern Pygmy(probable), very
dark and small lite. Also this is the spot where I collect my pellets for
research.
We,ve picked up as many as 200 at once before. However, developers have
reduced the habitat to only 10 acres left from 160 in the last 5 years so I
don't know how long we can hope to have these owls. I digress.

For those that are interested, any of the creek mouths along the sound that
have suitable cover i.e., thick willows, maples, alders etc., can be
expected to hold many mixed flocks of southbound birds. Often these places
are more reliable than the ridges and plateaus that also offer corridors to
migrating flocks, as well as, individual birds. My last few trips have been
to Carkeek, Shoreview, Edmonds(several little creeks), Meadowdale, Picnic
Point and all the creeks along Mukilteo Blvd. including the ones already
mentioned. I'm rarely disappointed in the spring and the fall at these
locations, especially for places close to home.

Anyway I've carried on too long, but I hope that helps.

Darryl
<birds at cmc.net>
Edmonds









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>From: "Greg Toffic" <greg.toffic at zoo.org>
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>Subject: Re: Forest & Howarth Park, Everett
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>Donna,
>You reported on the following.....
>
>At Howarth Park we saw a mixed flock of birds in one area which included:
>Hutton's Vireo
>Cassin's Vireo
>Red-eyed Vireo
>Orange-crowned Warbler
>Nashville Warbler
>MacGillivray's Warbler
>Wilson's Warbler
>Black-and-white Warbler (we had good views of this bird)....
>
>Can you give us a more precise location? What time of the day? What sex
was the black-and-white warbler?
>
>Greg Toffic
>Everett
>
>
W.Darryl Thompson