Subject: On the Duwamish - 7/1/03
Date: Jul 2 09:29:52 2003
From: Desilvis, Denis J - denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com


Didn't see as many birds as usual yesterday along the Duwamish, but I was definitely surprised at the sight of seven half-grown COMMON MERGANSERs with the female adult in attendance at 3pm across from the Secret Garden Statuary store on Pacific Highway South. I'd seen three males (one of which was dispatched by a harbor seal) and two females in March-April, but hadn't seen any since then. It appears there was at least one successful nest upriver from where I usually view the river.

Other birds seen include the following:
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose (with two goslings)
Mallard (2)
Osprey (It may be that the eggs have hatched in the nest across the river from the Museum of Flight; I'll check that today. At the nest site southeast of the Secret Garden Statuary, two adults at the nest appeared to be feeding young.)
Glaucous-winged Gull (3)
Rock Dove (8)
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow
PURPLE MARTIN (seen flying downriver at 6:10 am; a first for me at this point of the river)
Barn Swallow (nest at the Statuary store)
Black-capped Chickadee (family party)
Bushtit (it appears the young have fledged from the nest in the pine next to the cafeteria on Boeing property)
American Robin (2)
European Starling (>30, most of which were birds-of-the-year; and all in one flock)
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird (4)
BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD (a male and the first I've seen here)
House Finch (2)
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow (7)


May all your birds be identified,

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