Subject: [Tweeters] On the Duwamish - 11-29-2004
Date: Nov 29 12:53:23 2004
From: Desilvis, Denis J - denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com


11:47am start - water level dropping, with few mudflats visible (7:31
high tide - 12.1ft; 12:43 low tide - 7.8ft)
12:18 end

Tweeters,
High clouds, south breeze, and a see-your-breath, Lands' End
squall-jacket sort of day at Turning Basin #3. The bird-of-the-day was
a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (two of them!), a first here for me. I was
checking out the House Finches that were eating the fruit from an old
apple tree just over the fenceline when I heard the familiar chek-chek
sound of a RCKI in the blackberry tangle to my left. Sure enough, the
kinglet was feeding below. Soon, a patrolling flock of BUSHTITS came by,
with yet another kinglet with them. That mixed flock, which included a
single Black-capped Chickadee, moved downstream along the bank and
carried the second kinglet with it (I caught up to that foraging flock
later). The first kinglet stayed put, foraging below the apple tree.
(The kinglet brings the species count up to 60 for the year at this spot
on Turning Basin #3.)

A few Double-crested Cormorants plied the waters of TB3, and one, with a
larger-than-average fish, had trouble getting it into the right position
to swallow. A passing Glaucous-winged Gull took one flyby of the DCCO,
which at that point managed to get the fish into its gullet. The gull
landed close to the cormorant, but eventually flew off after the DCCO
got all the fish inside.

On the raptor scene, two RED-TAILED HAWKS were on a power tower next to
SR 599 to the south of TB3. Last year, one RTHA used that quite often as
a hunting perch. A Peregrine Falcon was on the Hamm Creek power tower
when I first came outside, but was gone when I checked again at 11:53.

Birds seen during this scan include the following:
Domestic goose
Gadwall (4)
Common Merganser
Double-crested Cormorant (8)
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk (2)
Peregrine Falcon
Glaucous-winged Gull (11)
Rock Pigeon (57)
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow (7)
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit (17)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
House Finch (6; four were feeding on the apples)

May all your birds be identified,

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