Natalie and I ventured to Federal Way and West Hylebos State Park to walk
the 1.1-mile boardwalk trail this afternoon and see what spring species
we could find on a partly cloudy and relatively cool day. Right off the
bat we were greeted by a Red-breasted Sapsucker - our first of the year
in Washington and the first we have seen in Western Washington in more
than a year. The last time we saw a Red-breasted Sapsucker was last fall
on a trip far up Icicle Creek outside Leavenworth, where this sapsucker
species is fairly rare.

Here are the 30 species we saw on this afternoon's short local trip:

Mason Gulch -
- Red-tailed Hawk being dived at near the top of the gulch by an American Crow

Along Schuster Parkway/Tacoma waterfront -
- Belted Kingfisher
- Common Goldeneye
- Double-crested Cormorant

On the east end of the Hylebos wetlands near Milton -
- Bald Eagle (2)

West Hylebos State Park -
We walked the entire boardwalk trail today. Along the way we found Indian
Plum in full bloom, nettles plants and skunk cabbage are emerging
already, and the fallen tree limbs and moss-covered trees are brimming
with mushroom and lichen.
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Red-breasted Sapsucker
- Gadwall (5)
- Hooded Merganser (2 on Brook Lake pond)
- Mallard (2)
- Lesser Scaup
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Too many to count. They were everywhere in the
trees overhead)
- Hutton's Vireo (2 feeding in the small brush and trees rimming the
parking area)
- Steller's Jay
- American Robin
- American Crow
- Wood Duck (2 flew over, calling, before landing in the pond behind the
ranger residence)
- Peregrine Falcon (flew over heading north as we walked the boardwalk)
- House Finch
- Song Sparrow (2)
- Spotted Towhee
- Great Blue Heron

Puyallup River mouth (as seen from near the Simpson mill) -
The low tide exposed a lot of the ground around this section of the
river, which really isn't much like a river at all through the Tacoma
tideflats since it is confined in such a ditch. I sometimes have to
wonder just what birding would be like in the Puyallup and Tacoma area if
the Puyallup River wasn't forced into a straight canal from Puyallup to
its mouth in Commencement Bay. Just imagine an estuary larger than that
found today at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to the south.
- Canada Goose
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Mallard

Gog-le-hi-ti Wetland -
Since there was some daylight left, we decided it was high time to wander
the Tacoma tideflats and find the small wetlands near the Puyallup River.
We eventually found our way, though it was getting cooler and the tide
was too low to draw many species into the wetland this afternoon.
- Red-winged Blackbird
- American Crow (hundreds flying over en route to their roosts)
- hybrid gulls
- Red-tailed Hawk (2, including one in a nest near Thea Foss waterway)
- Winter Wren

Ruston Way -
As we drove back toward home we opted to continue driving the length of
Ruston Way before turning up the hill. Spending a little time viewing the
low tidal area closest to the old Asarco plant gave us two more merganser
species, making this a three merganser day...
- Common Merganser
- Red-breasted Merganser

Jane Clark Park -
We swung around to the north end of this park that is just a few blocks
from our North Tacoma home and heard the incessant calling of a bird that
we were able to locate and identify as a Bewick's Wren, making this a
two-wren day...



Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
White Rabbit Publishing -- http://www.whiterabbits.com/
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com/
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html