Subject: On the Duwamish - 8/13/2003
Date: Aug 13 11:07:49 2003
From: Desilvis, Denis J - denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com


Tweeters,
It's a gorgeous morning (10:00-10:23am) on the river, with the tide going out, and the sun at the right position for a perfect view of the local PEREGRINE FALCON, as well as that of the OSPREYS at their nest. I confirmed that the falcon doesn't have bands on either leg. A newcomer (after late Spring) today was a GREATER YELLOWLEGS feeding on the mudbank that's to the immediate south. (The river turns east-west just south of where I usually scope the scene; the primary path of the river is north-south past Hamm Creek and the Boeing site, but it does turn east-west for a short space, then north-south again. Most of what I see is actually on the opposite bank, which could be west or south from where I stand). The Yellowlegs and KILLDEER were the first shorebirds seen for the past week.

On my side of the river, a party of >40 BUSHTITS swirled past me as their feeding flock headed north along the fenceline. This was by far the largest flock of these gray sprites I've seen on this property.

Birds seen included the following:

Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose (9)
Mallard (7)
Osprey (3; I only saw one nestling from my vantage point // the other could well have been hunkered down in the nest)
Peregrine Falcon
Greater Yellowlegs
Killdeer (3)
Glaucous-winged Gull (4)
Rock Dove (3; all feeding in the drier area just below the vegetation)
American Crow (4)
Bushtit (>40)
European Starling (>50; feeding at the edge of the marsh plants, above the mud)
Song Sparrow
House Finch (2)
American Goldfinch (3)
House Sparrow (8; these were feeding near the Starling flock across the river)

May all your birds be identified,

Denis DeSilvis
Seattle, WA
denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com