It was a beautiful sunny day, that started out cold at 34 but warmed up to 67 degrees by afternoon. There were seven birders on this Eastside Audubon (ELWAS) field trip that ended up with 42 species. Highlights were two BALD EAGLES and two OSPREY over Rattlesnake L., PEREGRINE FALCON at Snoqualmie Falls nest site, MOURNING DOVE, one ANNA'S and at least 10 RUFOUS HUMMINGIBRDS that were gorgeous in the sunlight, three TURKEY VULTURES, a NASHVILLE WARBLER heard and BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER seen by a few and a HUTTON'S VIREO only a few feet away giving us good views.

We started out at the new Snoqualmie Point Park, about 1/2 miles to right after taking exit 27 from I-90. Beautiful views and a good beginning for what promises to be a park that is worth a visit. We saw our first Rufous Hummingbirds of the day, heard Purple Finches and Hutton's Vireo, Dark-eyed Juncos. Then on to the Christmas Lake trail (included in Opperman's "Birder's Guide to Washington" ) where Rufous Hummers were everywhere, WINTER WRENS were singing, a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER and DOWNY WOODPECKER were pounding on wood, both GOLDEN- & RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS were moving in the trees, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (mostly Audubon's) were common. At the lake were a number of noisy CANADA GEESE vying for nesting areas, BUFFLEHEAD and one female HOODED MERGANSER.

We next visited the Cedar River Watershed Education Center at Rattlesnake Lake. This is always worth a visit to learn about the history of the source of Seattle's water and hear the water drums being played by dripping water. The Bald Eagles and Osprey were soaring back and forth over the water. The nice day brought large numbers of fisherman on the lake and hikers at the top of Rattlesnake Ridge. After lunch we walked the shoreline trail where we heard the Nashville Warbler, saw three species of
swallows, GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS in breeding plumage and two COMMON RAVEN cart wheeling through the air. We then drove to Snoqualmie Falls and found the PEREGRINE FALCON sitting on the nest after a little searching. When the falcon stood up we thought we could see four eggs. We got the best view at the lower end of the fence. We found that the best way to find the nest was to look for the second cliff face, which is the largest one, to the right of the falls. Going down from the the top there is some large bright green, at least in the sun, lichen spots. Just below them is a snag, it is about in the middle of the cliff face, which looks like a tuning fork - two vertical trunks joining into one. If you put your right binocular at the top of this snag, you should see the nest site near the top of your left binocular.

Hugh Jennings
hughbirder at earthlink dot net
Bellevue, WA