Hello all.

Here is my report from a walk all the way around Spencer Island, south and
north loops and back and forth across the cross dike, 12/3/00, 09:20-12:45,
Dennis Paulson & Netta Smith. HEAVY FOG almost the whole time, finally
started clearing toward the end of our visit, allowing us to see birds out
on the water. So thick you could cut it with a knife, and I actually sliced
off about a cubic foot to take home, but it dissipated somewhere between
Everett and Seattle. As before, birds at the sewage ponds are listed after
the plus sign.

Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 2
Green-winged Teal 8
Mallard 60
Northern Pintail + 10
Northern Shoveler + 6
Gadwall 1
American Wigeon heard
Canvasback + several hundred
Lesser Scaup + 1
Bufflehead 20
Hooded Merganser 1
Ruddy Duck + 8
Northern Harrier 5
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 (perched conspicuously and calling from usual grove at
noon)
Red-tailed Hawk 5
Virginia Rail 1 (on cross dike, forced near path by high tide; heard others)
American Coot 25 + 10
Long-billed Dowitcher 18 roosting on logs (tide very high)
Bonaparte's Gull + 18
Mew Gull 10 overhead + hundreds
Thayer's Gull + 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 1 overhead + dozens
Belted Kingfisher 1
Hairy Woodpecker 2 males at S end, seem to be hanging out together
Northern Flicker 5
Pileated Woodpecker heard
Steller's Jay 1
crow 1 + 10
Black-capped Chickadee 5
Bewick's Wren 5
Winter Wren 2
Marsh Wren 6
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6
American Robin 20
Northern Shrike 1 imm (adults seen on previous visits)
European Starling 8 + 30
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 (in cattails on cross dike!)
Spotted Towhee 15
Fox Sparrow 15
Song Sparrow 250 (an estimate, the most Song Sparrows I've ever seen per
unit time, absolutely astonishing numbers feeding on path along east side,
also many high in alders, as I reported before; spent much time futilely
scrutinizing sparrows for rarer species) + 5
Golden-crowned Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 70
House Finch 2
Pine Siskin 70

Only 47 species, but you had to be there to experience that fog!

Dennis
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115