Yesterday, 7 of us visited Spencer Is, Ebey Is, and the Snohomish area.
These areas are located in the lowlands of the Snohomish River Valley East
of Everett, Wa. We had cool, cloudy weather, and no fog. Charlie Wright &
I
were co-leading a Rainier Audubon field trip, and several participants got
life birds as we attempted to view recent rarities reported on Tweeters.
Ebey Island is right under Highway 2 as you head east from Everett. The
more productive, undeveloped fields are to the south of the highway. These
fields flood, and they may contain ducks and raptors this time of year.
Later in spring, there may be shorebirds in the ponds. Yesterday we watched
a pair of Peregrines perching and flying as they harrassed ducks and geese
on the ponds and fields. A single Snow Goose was in w/ a small flock of
Canada Geese. Then we continued across Ebey Island to the Snohomish Sewer
Pond which is a large lagoon located in SW Snohomish city. We parked just
in from
the road and walked down the right side of the chain link fence. Right near
where you park the cars, we looked down at an American Bittern. You are not
allowed to enter the working area of the sewer plant, but down past the
fence is a large lagoon which you can walk around. We walked to the end of
the right side. Pishing didn't bring the birds out but Charlie made a Pygmy
Owl sound, and a Swamp Sparrow answered w/ it's rattle sound. At first only
2 people saw a Swamp Sparrow on the road. There is a small pond down there.
Several people walked up on the mounds by the little pond. They flushed the
sparrows over to the road, where we all had good looks at 3 Swamp Sparrows
which were with Song Sparrows. There were also 2 Lincoln's Sparrows in the
area.
>From there we went into Snohomish on 2nd St, turning rt on Lincoln Ave.
This takes you out of town on the Old Snohomish-Monroe Rd. Approx.1 mile
out of town, after you cross the Pilchuck River Bridge, there is a large
field w/ two large bare trees. There are swans in the field. The Gyrfalcon
was in the tree to the left which has two trunks. We observed it perching,
and flying. It would fly when two Red-tailed Hawks would perch near it.
This bird is a beautiful, adult, gray morph. Sometimes the Falcon perched
in
the tree to the right. 3 Greater White-fronted Geese flew in w/ a flock of
Canada Geese.
Next we traveled to Spencer Island, using the directions in "A Guide to Bird
Finding In Washington" by Wahl & Paulson. Refer to Everett STP. Spencer Is
is just behind the sewer ponds. At the Sewer Pond we missed the 1st year
Glaucous Gull. As we walked over to the Island, we observed a perching
Northern Shrike. At Spencer Island we saw the Red-shouldered Hawk which
flew by. Charlie played a Virginia Rail & Sora tape, and both species
responded at the boardwalk.
Yesterday evening we attended the Rainier Audubon slide show presented in
Federal Way by Andy Stepniewski about owling in WA. He said there are more
species here in the far west than in most areas of the country. He said
there can be 15 spp of owls in Washington. He showed slides of various
species and told where you would be most likely to find them and at what
time of year. His slides of Spotted Owl, and their specific habitat (he
referred to "forest structure") were very enlightening.
All in all, yesterday was a perfect birders' day.
Here is our trip list.
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Dbl-crested Cormorant
AMERICAN BITTERN
Great Blue Heron
Trumpeter Swan
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
SNOW GOOSE
Canada Goose
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Canvasback - more than 200 at Everett Sewer Pond
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
GYRFALCON
Virginia Rail
SORA
American Coot
Killdeer
Mew Gull
Thayer?s Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Rock Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
NORTHERN SHRIKE
Steller?s Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Blk-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick?s Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Myrtle
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln?s Sparrow
SWAMP SPARROW - 3
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer?s Blackbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total - 64 species
Carol Schulz
DesMoines
linusq at worldnet.att.net