Hi Tweeters

On an afternoon walk about a week ago, Elaine and
I observed a DIPPER repeatedly at the Voight's
Creek 'bridge' on the Orting walking/biking trail
just south of Orting. It appeared to be quite
territorial and repeatedly returned to bob up and
down near or under the bridge. While sitting on
the creek bank quietly, several kingfishers also
gave very satisfactory low level flybys.

Anyway, Elaine was back out walking with a friend
and they found that the Dippers are nesting under
the bridge, so if anyone needs a dipper on their
list, they can have a nice (short) walk and
probably see them in an easy accessible location.

We have also looked for nighthawks down the same
trail (they were seen last year) but so far it
appears to be too early or we have just missed
them.

LOCATION: Take the walking path out of Orting
heading south, less than a mile south there is a
small bridge crossing over Voight's Creek (near
the salmon hatchery on the road between Orting and
South Prairie). There is a very short trail down
to the creek off the south-east end of the little
bridge.

QUESTION: I think of Dippers as being 'mountain
stream' birds. Are they often found this close to
sea level?


Robert (Bob) Taylor
taylorrt at msn.com
Sumner (Bonney Lake), WA USA