Tweeters,
Sunday at Fort Lewis turned out to be very nice despite the tea-leaves interpretation by the media weather forecasters. Mike Fleming and I visited the areas around Chambers Lake and Johnson Marsh, finding 57 species. Highlights for us included female AMERICAN KESTREL, N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, HOUSE WREN, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, and nesting HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER. On the latter, Mike said that the one area we were in looked like good Hammond's Flycatcher habitat, and when we came back through it, we heard its call. After jumping out of the pickup, we spotted the birds quickly, and Mike was in a great position to see one of the birds return to the nest.

Of particular note were the PURPLE MARTINS that appeared to be nesting in snags in two different areas. I'd seen PUMAs nest in one of the snags two years ago, and it appears that they're still using it. Other Purple Martins were at the man-made nesting boxes at Chambers Lake.

Nearly every open area we visited had many YELLOW WARBLERS and all likely habitats had lots of COMMON YELLOWTHROATS. In with the theme of "yellow," we had a female YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER ("Myrtle") either feeding or picking up material on one of the very open dirt trails near Chambers Lake. It took us both by surprise, because at first brief glance, we thought it was "just" another sparrow.

I've been visiting Johnson Marsh since 1979, and the extensive cattail and reed canary grass influx has extensively changed the nature of the area from lots of open water to narrow channels. The Wood Duck and Hooded Merganser population has seemingly plummated. And we saw no Purple Martins at Johnson Marsh, a first since nest boxes were installed during the 1980s. Western Bluebirds, which used to be in the area around the marsh weren't to be seen. Ravens, however, are much more prevalent.

Changes everywhere, but Ft. Lewis continues to hold a place in my mind as a great defacto wildlife refuge.

Birds seen include the following:
(Those only heard marked with "H")

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Hooded Merganser
California Quail (H)
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Virginia Rail (H)
Sora (H)
American Coot
Killdeer
Glaucous-winged Gull
Rock Pigeon
Rufous Hummingbird
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet (H)
Western Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Western Tanager (H: this gave us fits because the bird was singing obligingly from a rather open Douglas-fir. We just couldn't spot it!)
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow (many, many of these)
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Evening Grosbeak

May all your birds be identified,

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