AKA, (to some of us,) the Kent sewage lagoons.
The Lazuli Buntings are still there. At mid-morning Sunday, June 10 we saw
at least four males, singing on either side of the powerline path.

Also of interest:
* A female Common Yellowthroat feeding a male;
* A Savannah Sparrow with a blue-tailed dragonfly (sorry Dennis P, couldn't
ID it) in its mouth;
* A lovely collection of Wood Ducks on the pond - 6 males and 1 female;
* A juvenile Bald Eagle that looked too big for its snag;
* Many Cedar Waxwings, including one carrying a stick that was bigger than
it was.

Happy birding,
Mike and Caroline Ullmann
Maple Leaf



> [Original Message]
> From: Lynn Schulz <linusq at worldnet.att.net>
> To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Date: 6/6/2007 11:18:09 PM
> Subject: [Tweeters] Lazuli Buntings at GRNRA - Kent Ponds
>
> Hi Tweeters:
> We seem to have a new high count this year of Lazuli Buntings at Green
River
> Natural Resources Area (GRNRA) known to birders as Kent Ponds. During the
> GRNRA census on May 20, 2007 the census crew reported 8 Luzuli's. The
ponds
> team reported 2, the meadows team saw 4, and there were at least 2 more
> south of the power lines. I don't have a detailed report about the sex of
> the birds or exactly where they were seen, but the indication is that the
> sightings were widespread in the area. On Sat, June 2, 2007, Barry Levine
> reported 5 or six birds that he saw, and he heard them all singing. So
they
> must have been males. On Sun, June 3, '07 I saw and heard 4 males along
the
> powerline trail, each about 300 feet from the previous bird.
> In 2006, our censuses did not show Lazuli's. But Marv Breece was seeing
> them, and attempting to photograph them. He took photos near the little
> wetland pond down near the east end of the powerline trail on 5-20-06, and
> on 7-14-06. He never saw any young Lazuli's.
> In 2005, I don't think we have any records of Lazuli's in the area.
> Our first sightings of Lazuli Buntings at GRNRA that I am aware of
occurred
> in 2004, and that year we may have had some evidence of breeding. Nita
> Fulwiler, a lady who lives down in that area, saw a pair of Lazuli's near
> the powerline trail on May 31, '04. They were calling, but not singing.
On
> June 3 she and Sherry Barchus saw a male singing in the tree right next
to
> the South observation tower. On June 13, '04, Charlie Wright reported
that
> the census team saw 3 males and 1 female. A few days after that Ted
Ripley
> was at the grassy knoll and saw a female carrying grasshoppers down to a
> Lazuli nest about 3 feet below the fence toward the water. Mark Becraft
saw
> this nest with a male and female near it. The female perched on the
fence
> with a grasshopper. Mark saw it on June 21, '04. Unfortunately, a few
days
> later the grounds crew mowed the tall grass, and the Lazuli's apparently
> abandoned the nest.
> I have been asked if we have evidence of breeding by Lazuli Buntings.
> Looking through these old records, I think we may have. I myself would
love
> to see some young Lazuli Buntings this summer at Kent Ponds.
> Yours, Carol Schulz
> Des Moines
> linusq at att.net
>
>
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