Union Bay Natural Area this morning was alternately sunny and gloomy, and
the birding was just as interesting...

the hunt for the solitary sandpiper and yellow-headed blackbird was in vain
(as of 1330, anyway), but we were treated to another rarity: a surf scoter
at the southernmost point of the park, near the log marsh... grace and
ollie oliver had great scope views detailing all marks... also seen were
all five swallows (cliff, northern rough-winged, tree, barn, and
violet-green), 5 least sandpipers dining and flying with killdeer, perhaps
50-60 common mergansers in union bay, 40+ northern shovelers (all over the
place), a green heron, three bald eagles (one adult), one accipiter hounded
alternately by crows and red-winged blackbird, great blue herons everywhere,
common yellowthroat singing, reports of ring-necked pheasant (pretty sure i
heard one, but could not find it), and a few savannah sparrows that didn't
mind being photographed...

one of the more interesting things to see: a tree swallow chasing either a
feather or a leaf, neither of which should have been as high in the sky as
it was... the leaf/feather won... :)

the Photos of the Month gallery has been updated with the most recent pics,
as has the Desktop Calendar for May 2006...

ps: for those of you who enjoy travel, i will be posting a travel blog for
the next three months or so while i visit friends and extended family in
western europe. if you are interested in reading the exploits of travelgirl
(that's me -- which will NOT be updated very often because i'll have no
phone, and the closest internet access is 15-20 miles away), please send me
an email privately and i'll add you to the list... while my focus hopes to
be "exotic" birds, it will also include roman ruins, cathedrals, people and
whatever else piques my fancy. my blatherings are nominally designed to be
educational (for family and friends), but adults should find it fascinating
as well...

please enjoy the latest photos and calendar...

00 caren
http://www.parkgallery.org
from union bay, ballard locks, cedar river outflow...
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