Hi Tweeters:
This morning, Sun, Aug 5 at the S 212th St construction hole in Kent, the "pond" had
dried up to two or three very small puddles, about 6 ft. across. But my sister and I
still got to see some shorebirds there. 1 juvenile SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPER, 1
Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Long-billed Dowitchers, 2 Least
Sandpipers, and 2 Killdeer. At 8:20 the adult male Northern Harrier flew through,
and scattered the birds down in the hole. I was very glad to see this bird. We had
previously been seeing the male harrier at the nest area at Kent Ponds, but had not
seen him for 2 weeks. We were concerned, because he previously had been bringing
prey to the female harrier, and had watched over the nest. So he is alive, and just
wandering a bit.
At the South Observation Tower at Kent Ponds, we saw a juvenile and a female adult
Northern Harrier flying in the area. We did not see or hear the chat or the
Red-shouldered Hawk. We looked east to the cell phone tower where an Osprey family
has been, but we could not see juvs or adults at the nest. I think the juvs may have
fledged, but still may be in the area.
At the grassy knoll on 64th Ave we saw a Yellow Warbler in the cottonwoods.
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines, WA
linusq at att.net