Tweets:

Five of us (JoLynn Edwards, Rebecca Evans, Steve Gerstle, Jack Gossett, and
I) counted birds today for the Seattle CBC in the section of the count
circle that embraces the Points Communities and Houghton, on the east shore
of Lake Washington. Basically we cover the area north of SR-520 and west of
Lake Washington Boulevard as far north as Settlers Landing Park (10th Avenue
S). If there is time we go east uphill to bird the second-growth forest of
the western half of Watershed Park but this was not one of those years.

The "best" birds were four REDHEADS -- two males and two females -- at
Carillon Point. They were feeding with a smallish flock of Ring-necked Ducks
about 50 yards north of the base of the big pier. Steve first spotted a
single male Redhead farther away, feeding with a large flock of American
Coots. We found the group of four Redheads about five minutes later, by
which time the coots had drifted far off to the north. Maybe the first bird
was one of the four, but maybe not, in which case there were five birds in
all.

Typical woodland and neighborhood bird numbers were down in both numbers and
diversity, and we saw practically no gulls, which is highly unusual. However
there were plenty of diving ducks. Especially noteworthy were the 429
CANVASBACKS and the 3,360 coots. We also enjoyed watching a PILEATED
WOODPECKER demolishing a rotting stub twenty feet in front of us at eye
level, at Morningside Park adjacent to the Yarrow Point Town Hall.

Hal Opperman
Medina, WA
hal at catharus dot net