Subject: Fwd: [Tweeters] Montlake Fill birding (and mammaling)
Date: Mar 11 08:27:27 2006
From: Frances Wood - wood at whidbey.com


Dennis Paulson asked about previous sightings of nutria on Lake
Washington. I was raised on the east side of Mercer Island and remember
seeing nutria in the sixties and perhaps even as early as the fifties.
Many called these aquatic mammals muskrats or even mink, but I remember
that my father researched and then clearly identified them as nutria.

Frances Wood (female)
Whidbey Island, WA


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net>
> Date: March 10, 2006 4:39:09 PM PST
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [Tweeters] Montlake Fill birding (and mammaling)
>
> Hello, tweets.
>
> Netta Smith and I are just back (3/10/06) from a few hours digiscoping
> at Montlake Fill in Seattle. It was sunny when we arrived, but we just
> beat a rain storm back to the car.
>
> There were a few highlights, in addition to the perennial fun of
> taking photos.
>
> One?adult Greater White-fronted Goose at southwest corner, feeding
> with Canadas. Ridiculously tame.
>
> About 90 Cackling Geese,? probably all minima although a few had
> somewhat lighter breasts, at the north end. A few big moffitti Canada
> Geese were grazing with them, and I finally got photos of the two
> together, something I had been hoping for.
>
> One male Eurasian Wigeon with hordes of American. It's WHEEE-you
> whistle really stands out against the lower-pitched whew-WHEW-whew of
> the Americans. There was no female with the Eurasian.
>
> One (Audubon's) Yellow-rumped Warbler getting breeding plumage.
>
> At least a half-dozen Nutrias were the big surprise to me. I hadn't
> been to the fill in a long time, and had never seen them there before.
> Does anyone know of the earliest sightings? I wonder if they've
> reached Lake Washington on their own from the south, or if this was
> another introduction. They are surprisingly tame, and we walked up to
> within a few feet of one of them grazing in the tall grass. It didn't
> seem at all afraid, just kept grazing as it moved slowly away.
>
> -----
> Dennis Paulson
> 1724 NE 98 St.
> Seattle, WA 98115
> 206-528-1382
>
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