Subject: Golden Eagle at Brady Loop Rd.
Date: Feb 28 18:12:35 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded a very slow day from the Elma area to the Hoquiam STP. We encountered scattered rain showers,primarily in the Hoquiam area that were heavy at times,but others areas remained dry during the day,but cool. We didn't encounter too many highlights,but probably the most noteworthy sighting of the day was a juvenile Golden Eagle during our early afternoon drive along Brady Loop Rd. This bird clearly showed the broad white area bordered by the broad dark subterminal band and the obvious white wing "flashes" on either underwing,as observed in our spotting scopes in flight and is diagnostically different than the bird we observed in previous visits,which was a subadult. The bird soared fairly high above the intersection of Foster Rd. and Brady Loop Rd. and eventually drifted to the southeast and fairly good numbers of Bald Eagles persist in the area with 10 birds noted foraging on an apparent dead cow along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd. We were unable to relocate the Pink-footed Goose along with 7 other birders that were noted looking for the bird and geese flocks in general were very few,but we did locate a flock of primarily "Dusky"Canada Geese along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.

The Hoquiam STP hosted almost no waterfowl,but a small scaup flock was noted along the shores of Grays Harbor bordering the Hoquiam STP to the south. A few other highlights of note observed during the day included the following:

Red-throated Loon
1 in Grays Harbor at the Hoquiam STP

Tundra Swan
20 along Hwy.12 at Satsop
22 along Brady Loop Rd.

Trumpeter Swan
1 along Wenzel Slough Rd.
19 along Brady Loop Rd.

Common Teal/Am.Green-winged Teal
2 intergrades along Wakefield Rd.(south of Elma)

Eurasian Wigeon
1 male along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd. complex)

Barrow's Goldeneye
8 at Mud Bay(Madrona Beach Rd.),Thurston Co.

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 at Bowerman Basin

Rough-legged Hawk
1 along Paulson Rd. near the Hoquiam STP
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

Am.Kestrel
1 along Keys Rd. near Satsop
1 along Foster Rd.
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Merlin
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult along Brady Loop Rd.

Greater Yellowlegs
14 at Mud Bay(Madrona Beach Rd.)

Spotted Sandpiper
1 along the Hoquiam River at Hoquiam

Lincoln's Sparrow(with Golden-crowned Sparrows)
1 along Wakefield Rd. near Elma

Western Meadowlark
5 along Wakefield Rd. near Elma


En route to Mud Bay this morning we observed 5 Western Scrub Jays between 100th Street in Lakewood to I-5 in Pierce Co.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Tacoma,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net