11:12 start - water level low with all mudflats visible (10:47 low tide
- 1.8ft; 17:05 high tide 9.7ft)
12:02 end

Tweeters,
Just a warm gorgeous day, with a light northerly breeze and some clouds
to south of Turning Basin #3. At least two CLIFF SWALLOWS have returned
to the Boeing bridge. One of them dropped down onto the mudflat to the
immediate south to grab some mud and fly back to the bridge.

The highlight for today actually came before this scan, at 9:10, when my
boss IM'd me to let me know that a couple of Ospreys were fishing at
TB3. I headed out the door, and went to the fenceline for a closer look.
As I approached, I saw something that upped my adrenaline level: a
COMMON LOON in full breeding attire was on the water at the south end of
the basin. This is the first loon of any kind I've seen here in the
three years I've been scanning the river. (Bruce Clifton reported a
Pacific Loon foraging between TB3 and Hamm Creek on Nov 5, 2003 - the
only other report I've had.) The loon dived a couple of times, and came
up with a fish once. (I'd have stayed outside, but duty called.)

The OSPREYS that were fishing then were not the Hamm Creek pair, which
were at their nest site. Both Ospreys successfully pulled up prey, and
each flew to the south.

During this scan, an Osprey was preening itself atop a light standard in
the Boeing parking lot south of the bridge. And the Hamm Creek Osprey
pair were copulating.

Note: Four Violet-green swallows were flying low in the parking lot
nearby. Two of them kept flying around the aft end of a Suburu WRX
wagon. Finally, one of them landed at the open end of one of the pipes
of the dual exhaust, and perched there, looking into it. The other bird
landed on the trailer hitch. The exhaust-pipe bird then went a full
body-length into the pipe, and eventually backed out and flew away,
returning several more times before departing for good. Searching for a
nest-site?

Birds seen during this scan include the following:
Canada Goose (6)
Bufflehead (12; high number)
Common Merganser
Common Loon (not really during the scan, but including it here for the
record)
Double-crested Cormorant (36; 27 of which were foraging together)
Osprey (3)
Mew Gull (13)
Ring-billed Gull (thought they'd all departed this area)
Glaucous-winged Gull (21)
Rock Pigeon (20; many of these on the mudflats)
American Crow (4)
Violet-green Swallow (4)
Cliff Swallow (2)
Barn Swallow
American Robin
European Starling (10)
Song Sparrow (4)
Red-winged Blackbird (2)
House Finch (5)
House Sparrow (6)

Total species for the year: 41

May all your birds be identified,

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