12:09pm start - incoming tide; most mudflats visible
12:41pm end

Tweeters,
Today there's a light northerly breeze, pleasant warmth, and a slight chop on the water at Turning Basin #3. The three Hamm Creek OSPREY nestlings appear to be doing well. Of the COMMON MERGANSER family, I could see only three young: there were four yesterday. Could be that one wasn't visible as they basked on a floating beam directly west below the old pier; perhaps not.

One of the Hamm Creek Osprey adults glided in from the east, settled belly deep on the southwest shoreline of TB3, and walked around dipping its beak in the water and giving it a shake. The bird strolled up onto the shore, took a couple of steps, then walked back into the water. After about 15 secs, it lifted off, flying to the high perch atop a metal pole that's connected to a piling next to the pier. (The pole is a favorite perch of eagles, cormorants, and gulls, as well as the Ospreys.) Total walking-around time: 2 minutes.

Note: At just before and after 8am, I observed the local PEREGRINE FALCON atop the east power tower (Hamm Creek) with a crow in attendance. The crow harrassed the falcon for the entire 10 minutes I was outside, and at one point flew east, hooked up with another crow, and both returned to harrass the falcon. The PEFA spread it's wings slightly twice and took steps toward the crow, but those were the only two overt acts of retaliation I saw. During the exchange, the crow was expending significantly more energy than the falcon. (The falcon was definitely about the same size as the crow.)

Birds seen during this scan include the following:
Common Merganser (1 adult with 3 young)
Great Blue Heron
Osprey (2 adults with 3 young)
Glaucous-winged Gull (2)
Rock Pigeon (13)
American Crow (16, most of which were feeding on the mudflat at the goose-exclusion area)
Violet-green Swallow
Cliff Swallow (3)
Barn Swallow (2)
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren (heard; bird sings from the TB3 restoration area)
American Robin
European Starling (12)
Song Sparrow
House Finch (4; appears to be two adults with two young)
American Goldfinch

May all your birds be identified,

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