Hi Tweeters-New to list-
3/10/04
Great morning at the Black River Refuge. I counted (roughly)195
herons in the cottonwoods, on nests, perched, a few on the bank. Three
times, they took flight en masse, spooked by something--once at seven
a.m., again at a quarter to eight, and then at eight. It was foggy;
visibility was not that great--I could see the trees, see shapes, but not
that well. Eagles? I couldn't even imagine. However, I think I learned a
valuable lesson about 'pishing' while the herons were all spooked and
circling back over to their trees. Big white raindrops--I could be wrong,
but I won't do it again. Luckily I'm a small target. Didn't even get any
sparrows. But then, I kind of stopped looking.
Anyway, I saw some very satisfying stuff this morning, six a.m.
to eleven or so (35 species total). The fog burned off at about nine, and
the marsh wrens went nuts--I've only gotten a good look at one four times
in my life, and these two put on quite a show, chasing each other around,
one big mouthful of cattail-fuzz, and the loudest marsh-wren song I've
ever heard. Like through a megaphone. A young cooper's hawk swung by,
perched for a bit, gave me some good views--rounded tail in flight, quite
a bit of white on its tip, long head, and streaking on its breast. Its
head was pretty reddish.... Seven scaup (greater?) were hanging out by
the dam; wigeons, wood ducks, hooded mergansers, green-winged teal, and a
pied-billed grebe were hanging out in the east end. A kingfisher made the
rounds early in the morning. I saw a lot of goldfinch by the ponds, and
the yellow-rumped warbler was over there, too--nobody seems very bright
yet. The six tree swallows, however, were very cheering, bellies flashing
in the sun--little chuckling acrobats. I love those guys. And the singing
was fabulous this morning--I even saw the ruby crown of an RC kinglet
while he was doing a real Dean Martin routine. And this fox sparrow, I
really didn't think they had the chops--the one I saw sing before really
looked like he was just making it up--but this one, why, he really seemed
to know what he was doing, and while maybe he wasn't as loud as a song
sparrow, I think he was persuasive enough--almost finch-like, not as
rhythmic as a song sparrow, but repetitive and with the little trills. I
could dig it. I really shouldn't be so quick to judge these little birds;
that first one may just have been warming up. As for humans--one jogger,
sort of early; a birding couple, and a heron counter. And me. I know
there are more sparrows there. I just know it....And a mysterious bird
called from the other side of the ditch; all I know is that it wasn't one
that I know. A new bird. Can't wait to go back. My list:

Canada goose
Mallard
Gadwall
American wigeon
Green-winged teal
Wood duck
Bufflehead
Scaup (kind of greater, I think, mostly--I really did think about it for
a long time, too, the damned birds), Hooded merganser
Coopers hawk
Coot
Glaucous-winged gull
Anna's hummingbird
Belted kingfisher
Northern flicker
Tree swallow
Black-capped chickadee
Bushtits
Bewicks wren
Marsh wren
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Golden-crowned kinglet
Robin
Steller's jay
American crow
Yellow-rumped warbler
Spotted towhee
Fox sparrow
Song sparrow
Redwing blackbird
Starling
House finch
A. goldfinch
Happy birding!
Norma Larson
Tukwila, WA
abbynorma at juno.com
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