Tweeters,
Wet Friday, Saturday, parts of Sunday, but mostly dry Monday (finally
saw Mt. Rainier late Monday afternoon) in Roy, WA, south of Ft. Lewis.
New to the property this week were Western Tanager, Olive-sided
Flycatcher, and Willow Flycatcher. (Cedar Waxings, Pine Siskins, and
Swainson's Thrush came in the previous week; the Golden-crowned Sparrows
departed sometime that week.)

Five Turkey Vultures on Monday afternoon were a high for a species of
which we usually see one per day.

While weed-whacking around one of the feeders on Sunday, a female
California Quail ran out of the tall stuff to a spot about 15 feet from
me, then circled back, coming toward me, then to my right. I thought
"Must be a nest nearby." (A pair has taken over the area from the six
quail we had during the winter.) I looked down, and the ground in front
of me was literally crawling with baby quail -- I counted 15, but there
could have been more. These little ones were probably not more than a
day old. (The previous day, we'd seen the adults feeding in the open.)
Needless to say, I abandoned whacking down any more growth in that area.

As much as I want to get rid of a couple of huge sets of Himalayan
blackberries, I'm going to have to do so judiciously because so many of
the birds, including the quail, use these as cover or for nesting. I've
started replacing one area with tall Oregon grape, which seems to grow
almost as well as the blackberries.

In addition to the birds, we saw deer, rabbits, garter snakes, and
skinks. The coyotes sounded off nearby at about ten o'clock last night.

Birds seen during this weekend:
Canada Goose
Mallard
California Quail
Great Blue Heron (one getting dive-bombed by a Red-winged Blackbird
maneuvered almost as much as the heron I saw getting harassed by an
Osprey on the Duwamish last week)
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Rufous Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Growbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow

48 spp for the weekend; 72 spp YTD; 82 spp site-to-date

May all your birds be identified,

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