Subject: [Tweeters] On the Duwamish - 05-16-2005
Date: May 16 12:58:23 2005
From: Desilvis, Denis J - denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com


11:45 start - water level high with some mudflats visible (10:54 high
tide - 7.2ft)
12:15 end

Tweeters,
Brisk south breeze, cool, with partly sunny skies at Turning Basin #3.
Passages in my family led to travel for the past several weeks, and it
looks as if I might have missed the shorebird migration on the Duwamish.


It looks as if two active OSPREY nests are extant, with females sitting
tight. The Hamm Creek pair are well established; the pair using top of
the disused crane at the south side of TB3 are the new kids on the
block. The male of the latter pair uses one of the tall light towers in
the Boeing parking lot as its primary perch. I'll watch for interactions
between these pairs as the nesting season advances.

CLIFF SWALLOWS are definitely nesting under the Boeing bridge, with
birds using the material of TB3's mudflats to make repairs.

Birds seen during this scan include the following:

Canada Goose (24, including 8 goslings)
Mallard (2)
Double-crested Cormorant (5)
Great Blue Heron (2)
Osprey (4)
Glaucous-winged Gull (10)
Rock Pigeon (22)
American Crow (3)
Violet-green Swallow (4)
Cliff Swallow (6; but prob much under the true number in the area)
American Robin
European Starling
Song Sparrow (2)
Red-winged Blackbird (2)
House Sparrow (3)

May all your birds be identified,

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