Subject: [Tweeters] January 1 Birding - Olympia to Bowerman Basin
Date: Jan 1 17:34:52 2006
From: Mark & Maurie Kirschner - mnmkirschner at gmail.com


Hi Tweets, Happy New Year!

I was fortunate enough to get kicked out of the house today while my husband
worked on some painting projects in the house. Sometimes being chemical
sensitive has it's benefits!

I had only been up for a while when I saw my first bird of the year...a gull
species off in the distance before it was even close to light out! But only
a little while later I managed to have my first (identifiable) bird of the
year...a pair of Spotted Towhees seen from the dining room window. After
that I kept one eye out the windows while getting ready to take off for the
day.

After finally leaving home I made my way out to Bowerman Basin, listening to
the weather channel as I went, and getting a good chuckle at the fact I was
actually going birding in that kind of weather!

At Bowerman I was faced with wind that was driving the pouring rain at a
completely horizontal angle...and I was being pushed around myself. Every
once in a while if I took too big a step the wind tried to knock me off my
feet! But I had a grand time, anyway! Watching 100's and 100's of Dunlin
flying low to the ground in the airport fields was worth the stinging rain
in my eyes...what a sight. One of the funniest things I saw out on the
water was a Northern Pintail who's tail was blowing over it's head and
finally a gust hit it and it did a complete sommersault before deciding to
just face the wind. I was amazed at the strength and power of the hawks,
falcons, and eagles that I saw out on wing, hoping to take advantage of the
tired and mostly immobile birds. I am sure I missed quite a bit but I was
pretty happy with what I managed to see today considering half the time I
needed windshield wipers for binoculars! On my way back toward Olympia I
had a bit of a reprieve in the weather which made Brady Loop fairly
pleasant. (Could have something to do with being IN the car too!) And a
glorious rainbow from horizon to horizon. Below is a list of what I saw (and
managed to identify) today, 44 species total. I hope everyone had a
wonderful NewYears Day...happy new year list!

Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Dunlin
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Rock Pigeon
Morning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Townsend's Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark
House Finch

Happy Birding,

Maurie Kirschner
Olympia Wa
mnmkirschneratgmail.com