Subject: Thurston Co. birding and dragonflies
Date: Jul 4 18:56:05 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

This afternoon my mother and I spent a few casual hours checking several Thurston Co. locations beginning in the Black Lake area,then continuing along portions of the Black River and ending the day as far south as the Mima Mounds Natural Area near the town of Littlerock. Our main efforts were made searching for dragonflies,as well as birding included and we additionally managed to locate a few butterfly species. We located up to 12 species of dragonflies to be listed below and 5 species of butterflies,of which were noted at several locations. Our main bird highlights were a single singing Red-eyed Vireo heard along the Black River north of Littlerock and a pair of Green Herons near Black Lake Meadows and the South Sound Community College.

We began the afternoon checking a few detention ponds at the South Sound Community College searching for dragonflies,as conditions began to warm slightly. We then checked a few more locations before continuing onto the north shore of Black Lake near Black Lake Gulch. Continuing on we stopped and made a walk around the McLane Creek Natural Resource Area before continuing onto the Black River. We ended our afternoon in the Littlerock area with a short walk made at the Mima Mounds NA followed by a visit made along the Black River south of Littlerock. Due to rather cloudy conditions and limited sun dragonfly abundance was slightly down although some areas were warmer than others. A list of other bird highlights noted during the day include the following:

Wood Duck
3 at the McLane NRA

Turkey Vulture
3 over the McLane NRA

Osprey
1 at Black Lake

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 along Delphi Rd. south of Black Lake

California Quail
3+ heard calling at Littlerock

Blue Grouse
1 calling bird at the Mima Mounds NA

Mourning Dove
1 near the South Sound Community College

Band-tailed Pigeon
1 pair at McLane Creek NRA

Hairy Woodpecker
1 along the Black River south of Littlerock

Pileated Woodpecker
1 along Delphi Rd. south of Black Lake

Pacific-slope Flycatcher
2 singing birds at the McLane Creek NRA
1 singing bird along the Black River south of Littlerock

Western Scrub Jay
1 adult bird with a juvenile bird at Littlerock
1 along Littlerock Rd.SW south of Littlerock

Hutton's Vireo
1 singing/calling bird at the South Sound Community College
1 at the McLane Creek NRA

Black-headed Grosbeak
1 along the Black River north of Littlerock



Dragonfly species:

Pacific Forktail
Boreal Bluet
Dot-tailed Whiteface(1 at Black Lake)
California Darner
Blue-eyed Darner
Common Green Darner
Eight-spotted Skimmer
Common Whitetail(1 at the South Sound Community College,4 at the McLane Creek NRA)
Black Saddlebags(1 at the South Sound Community College,possibly being only the 2nd Thurston Co. record with the other record documented with photographs near this location several years ago)
Blue Dasher
Variegated Meadowhawk
Cardinal Meadowhawk


Butterflies:

Western Tiger Swallowtail
Margined White
Cabbage White
Zerene Fritillary
Ochre Ringlet(Mima Mounds NA)


Good birding,

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




















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