Subject: Fort Steilacoom/Kent; 4 May 2004
Date: May 5 01:33:57 2004
From: Charlie Wright - charlie at birdwright.com


Greetings,
I bopped around a few places in the Puget Sound interior today with Carol
Schulz and others on a mid-week field trip. We met in Fife and birded the
nearby wetlands there for a while. Then we stopped and checked some woods
and the estuary at Chambers Creek. Most of the day was spent at Fort
Steilacoom State Park where there was lots of migrant activity especially in
the immediate area of the lake. Afterwards we made a couple stops and found
a couple highlights in the Kent Valley.

Tuesday, 4 May 2004 (7:20am-3:30pm)
Pierce & King County - 99 species.
Partly sunny; rain squalls after 2:30pm; S wind (at times) 5-15mph.

MILGARD WETLANDS, PIERCE COUNTY (7:30-9:00)
Greater White-fronted Goose (1ad.)
Gadwall (3)
Northern Shoveler (1)
Green-winged Teal (3): one male, two fem; at one point observed copulating.
Bald Eagle (1ad.)
Spotted Sandpiper (3)
Western Sandpiper (2)
Least Sandpiper (40)
Wilson's Snipe (1)
Vaux's Swift (6)
American Pipit (50)

CHAMBERS CREEK AREA (9:30-11:00)
Bufflehead (6)
Common Goldeneye (2)
Hooded Merganser (4)
Common Merganser (30)
Mourning Dove (2)
Red-breasted Merganser (2)
Horned Grebe (1)
Peregrine Falcon (2)
Spotted Sandpiper (1)
Red-breasted Sapsucker (1)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (5)
Hutton's Vireo (2)
Warbling Vireo (5)
Black-throated Grey Warbler (10)
Wilson's Warbler (6)
Black-headed Grosbeak (2)

FORT STEILACOOM PARK (11:30am-2:30pm)
Wood Duck (8)
American Wigeon (2)
Ring-necked Duck (2)
Lesser Scaup (1)
Ruddy Duck (5)
California Quail (2)
Red-breasted Sapsucker (1)
Olive-sided Flycatcher (1)-singing, calling; first of season.
Warbling Vireo (6)
House Wren (12)
Swainson's Thrush (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler (3)
Yellow Warbler (15)
Wilson's Warbler (12)
Western Tanager (4)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (5)
Black-headed Grosbeak (1)
Lazuli Bunting (1m.)
Bullock's Oriole (1m.): in cottonwoods along lakeshore; singing and calling.
Purple Finch (1)

BOEING PONDS, KING COUNTY (2:50-3:25)
Cinnamon Teal (4: 3m., 1f.)
American Kestrel (1m.)
Killdeer (6): incl. two mostly-grown young.
Greater Yellowlegs (1)
Solitary Sandpiper (1): in shallow back pond, away from road.
Spotted Sandpiper (2)
Western Sandpiper (14)
Least Sandpiper (46)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (4)

FRAGER ROAD N OF 212TH (3:30-3:40)
Western Kingbird (1): flew over "Farmer John's field" as we pulled in.
Cedar Waxwing (20)

That's all for now
cheers and good birding,
--
Charlie Wright
Sumner, Washington
charlie at birdwright.com