Greetings tweeters,

Did my weekly count on Green Lake, Seattle, yesterday under partly cloudy
skies and 60F/15C. Started at 6 AM and was done by 7:30.

An asterisk indicates a note at the end.

GREBES, PODICIPEDIDAE
Pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) 9*
HERONS, ARDEIDAE
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias) 3 (in fight)
WATERFOWL, ANATIDAE
Canada goose (Branta canadensis) 173
Domesticated goose 8*
Gadwall (Anas strepera) 162*
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 109
OSPREY, EAGLES, HAWKS, ACCIPITRIDAE
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) 1 adult
RAILS, RALLIDAE
American coot (Fulica americana) 12
PLOVERS, CHARADRIIDAE
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) 3
GULLS & TERNS, LARIDAE
Ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) 19
California gull (Larus californicus) 1
Glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) 11
Caspian tern (Sterna caspia) 2 adult, 1 immature
Gull spp. 1
PIGEONS & DOVES, COLUMBIDAE
Rock dove (Columba livia) 18
KINGFISHERS, ALCEDINIDAE
Belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) 1 (female)
WOODPECKERS, PICIDAE
Downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) 3
CORVIDS, CORVIDAE
American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 41
SWALLOWS, HIRUNDINIDAE
Violet-green swallow ((Tachycineta thalassina) 60
Cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) 20
Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) 120
CHICKADEES, PARIDAE
Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 28
BUSHTITS, AEGITHALIDAE
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) 44
NUTHATCHES, SITTIDAE
Red-breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) 2
THRUSHES, TURDIDAE
American robin (Turdus migratorius) 2
STARLINGS, STURNIDAE
European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 159
SPARROWS, EMBERIZIDAE
Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 4
BLACKBIRDS & ORIOLES, ICTERIDAE
Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 25
Brewer's blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) 41
OLD WORLD SPARROWS, PASSERIDAE
House sparrow (Passer domesticus) 104

Pied-billed grebe: a remarkably unproductive year, to date. One pair built a
nest among the cattails in April. It failed for reasons unbeknownst to me,
the female left (in disgust?), or died. In June another pair had a floating
nest among the lilies but about 10 days into (23-27 day) incubation the
still actively spawning carp destroyed the nest (they splash around at the
surface). Within a week the same birds had built a new nest two lily pads
farther north and they are currently incubating 5 eggs. The carp appear done
with their spawning activity. Perhaps it'll work. There's an adult (female?)
hanging around the island with two stripe-necked young. They must have been
raised elsewhere (I'm 100% sure no pied-bills with their vociferously
food-begging young could have pulled off a Green Lake brood without
detection) and flown to the lake about two weeks ago.
Even though non of the grebes are banded or otherwise marked, I've been
lucky this year that all the males and some females (the only difference is
body & bill size; bigger in males) have had very distinct markings. For
instance the incubating male has a 'scar' on the right side of his upper
mandible's tip. He also has four dark spots on his left eye-ring. You need a
close-up for positive id but since the nest is within 20 feet of the shore
there's ample chance with a scope.

Domesticated goose: Often people refer to the white geese as hybrids.
Technically speaking we haven's had hybrid geese on the lake. Just
domesticated varieties of two non-native species. The ones with the big
knobs on their foreheads: Chinese goose, domesticated variety of the Asian
swan goose (Anser cygnoides), and the white and brown domesticated variety
of the Eurasian greylag (Anser anser). Yet this year a male Canada goose and
one of the white greylag paired up and had four young. Three of them have
grown into white geese and one looks like a faded Canada goose with pink
legs and bill. Now those are true hybrids.

Gadwall: I'm just putting this in as a reminder that there's value in
keeping records even if it's (only) for your own edification. I was thinking
the number of Gadwalls was particularly high for this time of year. So I
went back to my files and checked on the week the number of gadwall hit 100+
after the breeding-season low. Turns out that I was remembering wrong. For
the past five years the one hundred mark was hit in the second or third week
of July.
Memory....the second thing to go. Can't remember what the first thing is ;)

Cheers, and good birding.
Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com