Greetings tweeters,

The usual deal, Wednesday morning Green Lake (Seattle, King County, WA)
count. Lucked out on the weather, clear skies, 40F/5C, light S wind.

Where applicable before the comma male, after the comma female. An asterisk
indicated a note at the end.

GREBES, PODICIPEDIDAE
Pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) 8
CORMORANTS, PHALACROCORACIDAE
Double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) 4
HERONS, ARDEIDA
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias) 1
WATERFOWL, ANATIDAE
Canada goose (Branta canadensis) 30*
Dom. goose 7
Gadwall (Anas strepera) 29,21
Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope) 2,0
American wigeon (Anas americana) 112,74
Mallard (Anas platyrhinchos) 64,42
Northern shoveler (Anas clypeata) 2,3
Ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris) 2,2
Lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) 5,4
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 9,10
Common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 1,0
Common merganser (Mergus merganser) 2,3
Ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) 2,3
Dom. duck 8
OSPREY, EAGLES, HAWKS, ACCIPITIDAE
Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 1,1*
Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) 0,1 juv.*
FALCONS, FALCONIDAE
Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) 0,1*
RALLIDAE, RAILS
American coot (Fulica americana) 276*
GULLS & TERNS, LARIDAE
Bonaparte's gull (Larus philadelphia) 2
Mew gull (Larus canus) 103*
Ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) 21
Glaucous-winged hybrids 3
Glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) 31
PIGEONS & DOVES, COLUMBIDAE
Rock dove (Columba livia) 12
WOODPECKERS, PICIDAE
Downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) 1,1
Northern flicker (Colaptus aratus) 1,1
CORVIDS, CORVIDAE
American crow (Corvus brachyrhychos) 210*
CHICKADEES, PARIDAE
Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 12
BUSHTITS, AEGITHALIDAE
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) 36
NUTHATCHES, SITTIDAE
Red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) 1
KINGLETS, REGULIDAE
Golden-crowned kinglet (Regulus satrapa) 20
Ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula) 2
THRUSHES, TURDIDAE
American robin (Turdus migratorius) 18
STARLINGS, STURNIDAE
European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 30
WOOD WARBLERS, PARULIDAE
Yellow-rumped warbler (Dendroica coronata) 4*
SPARROWS, EMBERIZIDAE
Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 4
Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) 10
BLACKBIRDS & ORIOLES, ICTERIDAE
Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 38
Brewer's blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) 9
FINCHES, FRINGILLIDAE
House finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) 4
American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) 30
OLD WORLD SPARROWS, PASSERIDAE
House sparrow (Passer domesticus) 14

Notes:

Canada goose:
It looks like six pairs are setting up territory on the island (Waldo J.
Dahl Waterfowl Refuge). Noisy bunch. Also, it appears two normal looking
Canada geese have each paired up with one of the domestic varieties of geese
at the lake. One with a (male?) Chinese goose (Swan goose), another with a
(male) Barnyard goose or Pilgrim (Greylag)

Bald eagle:
The pair hanging out on the island. They've been working on their nest.
Early March I expect the first egg.

Cooper's hawk
This juvenile female has been around several weeks now. This morning I saw
her at the Bathhouse Theater (assuming it's one and the same bird, of
course). This bird seems to relish in the attention she gets from crows. Why
else would seh repeatedly show up when the morning gathering of crows (1-600
of them) is present, and perches in a tree nearby, or just zips right
through a cloud of crows.

Peregrine falcon:
A single alarm note from a gull made me look up just in time to see this
adult female peregrine come flying by at full throttle, low from the west,
across Aurora Avenue. She flew out over the water on a collision course with
a spread-out string of crows coming west across the lake. As she proceeded
at high speed east the corws in turn would do evasive maneuvres. The effect
was like the "wave." The peregrine did not appear to make serious attempts
at getting a crow; just showing her ownership of the skies, I guess.

American coot:
Coots appear to get ready to leave (some of them anyway). A group of 100
were resting beneath willows, close to shore. This usually precedes
departure. I wonder if they fast during a period when their bodies change in
anticipatiuon of migration. For instance, in Eared grebes (Podiceps
nigricollis), prior to migration the birds fast while the digestive system
atrophies and the flight mucles build up. Pied-billed grebes (Podilymbus
podiceps) also may triple the flight muscle mass prior to migration. Given
the coot's heavy wing loading I wouldn't be surprised if they went through a
similar pre-migratory change. Something to look up.

Mew gull:
Most gulls do not roost at the lake. Interesting to note that Mew gulls
arrive from the west (Puget Sound direction) early in the morning.
Glaucous-winged gulls on the other hand mostly arrive from the southeast
(Lake Washington?).

American crow:
Missed the peak gathering this morning.

Yellow-rumped warbler:
Three Audubon's race, one undetermined.

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