Hello, Tweeters,

Today from 12:30 to 2:30 I took a walk from the usual parking lot near the sewage treatment ponds over to Spencer Island and a ways north on the trail leading into the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife area along the west side of the island.

Marsh wrens were actively singing in the marshy areas along the entrance road and on the island. Other notable birds seen in or near flooded areas on the island were three Greater yellowlegs and two, mostly snoozing Dowitchers, presumably long-billed, in winter plumage. Not twenty yards up the trail from the bridge, a Pileated woodpecker flew in front of me, across the slough to the west, and landed on a tall snag. It was a male, and I watched it look into, then enter mostly into, a hole about 6-8 feet from the top of the tree. It did this several times, sometimes dropping something (wood material?) from its beak as it moved back out. Not long after, a female pileated landed on a nearby dead tree, but did not join the male. The edges of the hole looked pretty fresh to me. I'm wondering if this might not be a prospective nesting hole? If so, I'm not sure the location is the best, as the snag is not far from the trail running along the west side of the slough, though the hole is pretty high up. After walking northward, I saw no activity there, upon my return. The tree in question is tall, but not as tall as the two trees spaced apart on either side of it.

In the flooded area just north of the road leading from the parking area were two pairs of Cinnamon teal. They provided great looks, and were a lot less skittish than cinnamons I saw in Grant County last weekend. However, at 2:30, when returning to my car, they were gone. There were eight Bonaparte's gulls, on the concrete wall at the edge of the northern sewage pond, which were molting into breeding plumage.

Best regards,

Bill Boyington
Shoreline, WA
wrboyington at msn.com<mailto:wrboyington at msn.com>