We ventured only as far as Juanita (sorry we missed you, Caren!), on
a doomed mission seeking a look at the Virginia Rail chicks that I'd
photographed two days ago. We did hear a single adult call, from the
thickest cat tails west of the middle lookout (east of the west
boardwalk), but never got a glimpse. We saw three Green Herons from
the same middle lookout. Toward 1:00 PM the birds got considerably
chattier. We noted Western Grebes, the call of a Pied-Billed Grebe, a
Great Blue Heron flying away at a distance, an circling mature Bald
Eagle, Purple Martins, and Tree Swallows. Around the middle of the
east boardwalk I was an immature Red Breasted Sapsucker exactly where
I'd seen him/her several days ago, perched halfway up a thicket of
white birches on a section of trunk that had been remodeled as a
cribbage board. We saw a number of Black Capped Chickadees feeding on
the spikes of cat tails along the same boardwalk, making for some
nice photo op's, and a handful of American Goldfinches (likely
juveniles) high in the willows overhead. Our sightings were rounded
out by a Wood Duck family, Mallard hybrid, female Red-Winged
Blackbirds (but no males in sight today), the call of a Willow
Flycatcher, and the ubiquitous Song Sparrows, Robins, House Finches,
unidentified distant Gull, and Crows.

Marc Hoffman & Tina Blade
Kirkland, WA

At 06:07 PM 7/22/2007, you wrote:
>before the storm, the worst our intrepid band of birding enthusiasts
>had to worry about was humidity, which was somewhere around north
>carolina standard (you are clean and dry, then you venture outside,
>and before you've finished your first step, you are drenched)...
>
>starting at the marymoor pea patch, we enjoyed the company of both
>anna's and rufous hummingbirds, including anna males jetting into
>the stratosphere, only to plummet to ground over and over again...
>
>at juanita bay park, we were told the virginia rails and chicks were
>in evidence all over, but unfortunately they didn't even call once
>while we were there... even so, we had good looks at a green heron
>at the end of the western boardwalk...
>
>at marina park, nothing unusual with the exception of the pompom
>mallard; she has been at marina for a few years now...
>
>at bellevue botanical, we learned why the hummingbirds weren't
>around in numbers seen over previous years (the fuchsias on
>hummingbird alley died back hard last year, have yet to return to
>former glory), but numerous other flowers were in spectacular colour...
>
>finally, our friend from singapore puts in the really good karma and
>we spend about 10 minutes photographing two long-billed dowitchers
>at union bay natural area, at the point closest to the UW boathouse,
>just before the skies unleashed... we also photographed a
>white-crowned sparrow with silver band (left leg), a wood duck male
>in eclipse, and a dragonfly species none of us had seen before...
>
>even though weather more than once threatened, we were barely spit
>on once, and managed 40+ species for the day, which was considered
>quite a success...
>
>photos are available in "photos of the month" gallery... i hope you enjoy :)
>
>00 caren
><http://www.parkgallery.org/>http://www.parkgallery.org
>george davis creek, north fork
>
>