Vicki King and I had quite a fantastic City Birdathon this past Sunday. In
9 hours and in basically 2 locations our collective 4 eyes swatted away
77 species! The weather cooperated all day and so did the birds.



We had some quality sightings at Discovery Park in the early a.m., including
a flyover PILEATED WOODPECKER a few minutes after getting out the car. We
started the morning with a BARRED OWL near the Visitor Center. S/he was
casually taking abuse from several harassers including the typical Steller's
jay and American crow, but also from a territorial American robin and Anna's
hummingbird. The robin appeared to make actual contact with the owl
several times! At the lighthouse, we caught ~50 RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, 3 pairs
of MARBLED MURRELETS, and handfuls of HORNED GREBES all in breeding plumage.
A few solitary BONAPARTE GULLS peppered the shoreline, black helmets
donned, near a group of ~35 BRANT. A raft of ~100 WESTERN GREBES also
found its place.



After we left Disco Park we took a shot at catching the Hooded Oriole lately
residing in my co-workers yard on the Boulevard. We were given no special
treatment for my connection, and found no hooded.



At Constellation Point in West Seattle (another lighthouse nearby!) we
watched voracious foragers DUNLIN, WESTERN SANDPIPER and one LEAST
SANDPIPER. No harlequin ducks though.



At the Fill, we searched all the species seen by Connie in the past two
weeks, but fell short due to a pair of unleashed, ownerless dogs that ran
through the water and shoreline flushing the waterfowl from pond to
pond. Never
found the Cinnamon teal, but found RINGED-NECK DUCK and the diminutive
GREEN-WINGED TEALS as well as geese goslings (the first of the season). A
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK visited a few times, taking turns with a RED-TAILED HAWK
as celebrity raptor of the Fill. We heard the RING-NECKED PHEASANT but
never caught a glimpse. We did see the pair of AMERICAN PIPIT preening in
small muddy puddle.



We mopped up in the sparrow department, counting 7 species on the day and
enjoying the last days of beautiful GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS in breeding
plumage. Singing warblers for the day included WILSON'S, ORANGE-CROWNED,
YELLOW and both Myrtle and Audubons' YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. A complete
list of species is below.


Ilon Logan
Seattle, WA
mailto:pirangaster at gmail.com <pirangaster at gmail.com>