13 birders spent about three hours at Cavanaugh Pond on Monday morning on an ELWAS (E. L. WA Audubon Society) birding trip. It was a beautiful October day after the week of November type weather we had been having. The pond had about 12 AMERICAN WIGEON, 2 HOODED MERGANSER (male & female), and a PIED-BILLED GREBE. There has been a lot of clearing of blackberry bushes and Japanese knotweed on the shore of the pond which provides very good views of the pond from the trail. We saw one female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER in the river. At first it was assumed to be a Common Merganser as that is what we have seen in previous years, but close scrutiny with a scope confirmed it to be a R-b Merganser instead. A RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER gave us excellent views as it preened itself on a tree trunk. A number of bright red sockeye salmon were in the river and there were a number of dead sockeye in the shallows by the shoreline. A MERLIN made three quick passes up or down the river, so every one g!
ot at least one fleeting look at it. A RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET was observed close by moving about quickly in a bush. A NORTHERN FLICKER was at the top of a birch tree and a GREAT BLUE HERON looked stunning perched in the sunlight on a tree over the river. Two BELTED KINGFISHER were chasing each other on the far side of the pond. A number of SPOTTED TOWHEE & SONG SPARROWS were seen. When we got back to the parking lot a PILEATED WOODPECKER flew onto the top of a tree. A fitting climax to the morning. We had a total of 25 species for the morning, including the following which were only heard - GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, BEWICKS' WREN, BROWN CREEPER, DOWNY WOODPECKER.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at earthlink dot net