Subject: Green River, Auburn; 16 July 2004
Date: Jul 16 16:39:58 2004
From: Charlie Wright - charlie at birdwright.com


Greetings,
I took a walk down to King County's Bank Swallow colony this morning with my
dad. This spot is in sand banks along the Green River east of Auburn. From
Auburn you could go up the Auburn-Enumclaw Hwy or any other route, but get
on SE 385th St. Turn north on 188th Ave SE, park at the end of that road
which is closed off. Walk past the gate on what used to be 190th Ave, all
the way down to the bottom and out of the woods to the river. It is, at
most, 2.5 miles round-trip.

Today the woods were absolutely chock full of Red-eyed Vireos, a few singing
but most giving various other calls and giving quite good views. I observed
several fledglings being fed by adults. The biggest surprise was when my
half-hearted pygmy-owl toots I was giving to bring in the vireos actually
called in an owl, giving the trill as well as toots. A very large and angry
mob of passerines came in and attacked the poor bird, but the pygmy-owl
fought back! I'm not sure if the Black-headed Grosbeak made it out alive in
the end. This surprised me a little as I don't usually see them in deciduous
forests in the summer. Anyway, we went down to the river after that
excitement and counted the Bank Swallows, which seem to be thriving. You
could even see several almost-fledged young in some of the holes, and many
more were being fed. In the same area as the colony, a juvenile Chipping
Sparrow was observed, and just past that, some surprise shorebirds in the
mud along the river.

Friday, 16 July 2004 (9:20am-12:45pm)
Sunny; calm; 70-80 F.

Common Merganser (20): all in one apparent brood.
Turkey Vulture (2)
Bald Eagle (2)
Greater Yellowlegs (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (6): 2 adults; 4 juvs.
Least Sandpiper (1)
Long-billed Dowitcher (1ad)
Northern Pygmy-Owl (1): dark brown morph; at base of switchbacks.
Vaux's Swift (1)
Downy Woodpecker (2)
Western Wood-Pewee (2)
Willow Flycatcher (6)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (15)
Red-eyed Vireo (18): most common forest bird here, besides chickadees.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (6)
Bank Swallow (52): 48 adults; 4 nestlings visible-- more being fed.
Cliff Swallow (5)
Black-capped Chickadee (10)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (45)
Bushtit (5)
Brown Creeper (5)
Bewick's Wren (3)
Swainson's Thrush (13)
Common Yellowthroat (10)
Western Tanager (2)
Black-headed Grosbeak (3)
Chipping Sparrow (1 juv): flying around on both sides of the Green R.
Song Sparrow (15)
Purple Finch (2)
--------
Western Tiger Swallowtail
Mustard White
Mylitta Crescent
Satyr Comma

That's all for now
cheers and good birding,
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington