Hi Tweets!

I did the Lake Fenwick hike today. Goodness how a day can vanish when one's
out birding. I hit the boardwalk at Woodland Estates apartments around ten
this morning and got home just before two this afternoon! The board walk
was very icy and dicey, so I didn't really try and check out the birds until
I got to the regular trail.

About halfway between the boardwalk and the stair climb I HEARD something
very loud and unusual. It was coming from ground level or in a low bush or
tree. It was a very staccato "Doe!" "Doe!" "Too!" The overall sound was
like loud squeaky toy. It wasn't a towhee, too loud and weird. Never saw
it.

On the ridge above Lake Fenwick I began hearing what sounded like a brawl
between woodpeckers, redtail hawks and something else very noisy and loud.
By the time I got down to the west side of the lake I heard a red-tailed
hawk coming from a small tree just ahead of me! What? Not! I glanced up
and spied a STELLARS JAY mimicking a red tailed hawk! I ended up spying
about eight STELLARS JAYS bombing around the park making quite the ruckus.
I think the Stellars were having a mimic contest.

I did hear the sound of loud drumming, so there were woodpeckers in the
area. I also heard flickers and pileateds along with the noisy Stellars.
What a sound!

I spied a small, plain olive-yellowish bird hanging out with the kinglets
and bushtits. It wasn't as round as the kinglets, and a wee bit bigger.
It's back was olive-gray and breast was a stronger yellowish-olive. I didn't
see much wing barring. It had a long tail. I think it was an ORANGE CROWNED
WARBLER or HUTTON'S VERIO.

Here's a brief listing of what I also saw:

RUBY CROWNED KINGLETS (I nailed that id, I could see the itty bitty red
crowns!)
BUSHTITS
SONG SPARROW (sitting on a branch so close I could see head and face
details and it sang for me.)
GOLDEN CROWNED SPARROW (on the east side of the ridge)
BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEES
TOWHEE
PILEATED WOODPECKERS!!!! Two, possibly three of them! (So nice how they
announce themselves!)
NORTHERN FLICKER
PIED BILLED GREBE
EARED GREBE (thank you to all who helped me tell the difference between the
winter grebes!)
GREAT BLUE HERON
DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANT (immature with whitish gray breast)
RING NECK DUCKS
GADWALL
MALLARDS
HOODED MERGANSERS
RING BILLED GULLS (at the Old Fishing Hole)
CANADA GEESE
WIGEONS
BUFFLEHEADS

That's it for now.

Lydia Gaebe In Kent, WA USA
lgaebe at msn.com
Until I get a new website up, be sure and visit this one:
http://joy.songbird.com/zisa/