Subject: Birding at Greenlake
Date: Jun 26 16:44:48 2001
From: Margaret Parkinson - margparkie at home.com


I had a wonderful time at Green this morning. I went there to see the
Pied-billed Grebe nests. I saw two of them with Mom's sitting on them. I
met a really friendly birder there who told me we should be seeing the
babies soon. So I will be back to see them. I also saw two Cedar Wax
Wings which was a delight.

I had a lovely time chatting with two eight-year olds while I was watching
one of the nests. Red-winged blackbirds were calling loudly and I told them
what they were. "Oh", said one, "I have seen a picture of those at
Discovery Park". Neither had ever seen one and were excited to at least
hear them. Then, as if to please its young friends, a male with its
beautiful red wing markings landed and stood within feet of us for at least
five minutes. I had the pleasure of two young girls just so thrilled to see
something they had never noticed before. It was fun.

Now, beginner question. I have spent the afternoon hunting in my bird books
for identification but had not been successful enough to be sure. I saw a
group of three small birds perched on a upper branch of a low tree beside
the lake. They looked something like swallows but were not the ones I am
familiar with ... barn, violet/green, tree. They had darkish backs with
light orange breast and some light orange on parts of the back. It crossed
my mind that they had similar colors to a gray calico cat(!) A couple of
times while I was watching a barn swallow came up to them and had some
interaction and flew off. I wondered if they could be young Barn Swallow
but then another one just like them flew up and seems to be trying to
copulate and so I doubted that they were juveniles. The wings were the same
length as the tails. I thought the beaks were yellow but I may have been
wrong on that. Looking into the sun makes it hard to see exact colors.
Could they have been Bullock Orioles? The books make orioles seem quite
vibrant and while interesting in markings I would not call these vibrant.
(I have not seen an Bullock's Oriole yet).

Anyway, if anyone has any idea what these might have been I would love to
know.

Margaret Parkinson
University District, Seattle

mailto: margparkie at home.com