Hi Tweets:
Spring is really happening. I too have been hearing PURPLE FINCHES in my
Des Moines neighborhood for the last two weeks. I haven't heard them for at
least a year. I have always associated them w/ spring blossoming fruit
trees, but maybe it they are here for the maples leaving out? I hear their
rich, rising and falling warble occasionally.
My friend, Patti Coolsen lives up on the bluff near Brown's Point in NW
Tacoma. She has quite the feeder setup in her suburban yard. She sent the
msg that she had a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE and two PINE SISKINS in her yard
yesterday, Apr 5. She said she also had seen those two species once before,
on a day in Feb.
Today, Friday, Apr 6, I visited EAGLE LANDING PARK on the bluffs along Puget
Sound in Burien. The area has a number of conifers, some quite large,
deciduous trees, and lots of bushes. The birds were not very visible today,
so I suspect a lot of them are nesting. They were a lot of the usual winter
birds including singing Blk-c Chickadees, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Winter
Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Bewick's Wren. The Black-capped Chicks are
nesting now, and are madly flying back and forth to their nest holes.
I did hear and see some interesting birds that posed some questions. Three
BAND-TAILED PIGEONS flew by overhead, first one, then two. They would make
an alarm call that sounded like keh, keh, coo, coo, coo. This surprised me,
as I usually hear their call that sounds like a soft who hoo. A HUTTON'S
VIREO was making some repetitive calls, but I never could see it. A couple
of birds were "singing" that sounded like Cassin's Vireo, the question and
answer bird. The song sounded kind of whispery. Unfortunately I never
could see these birds, and am wary about calling them CASSIN'S VIREO because
I know Purple Finch can immitate that song. I guess I need to go back to
try to see these. Finally, down at the top of the steep stairs that go down
the bluff to the water, I heard a loud, singing ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and
maybe two of them. That was my first singing Or-crnd. Warbler of the
season.
Seeing birds at Eagle Landing Park can be hard looking up into the canopy,
so I tell people to walk the roads above the park to see migrants even
better especially in late Apr and into May. There are lots of large
conifers in the area. This area was hit hard during the Dec 15 wind storm
and they lost a number of their big fir trees. Their power was out for 8
days.
More info about Eagle Landing Park in Burien is at www.eaglelandingpark.org
To reach the park, turn west on 149th St from Anbaum, and drive 1/2 mile?
west until the road turns a little to the right and gets very narrow. The
parking at the trailhead is hard to see and is down to the left. The eagles
are not nesting in the tree by the trail this year, but Jim Branson reports
on the website, (click on journal) that they are probably nesting in the
conifers just to the north. The fly through, and sometimes perch in the
trees in the park.
Yours, Carol Schulz, Des Moines, linusq at att.net