Subject: [Tweeters] Flock Snow Geese over Fremont/Queen Anne (and more)
Date: Dec 20 18:49:49 2008
From: Christine Lee - heajean at gmail.com


Despite the snow and pending storm, there was some great birding in
Seattle this afternoon. A flock of about 60 to 70 snow geese flew up
the canal, from the direction of Ballard and over Fremont, and then
passed low over the Aurora Bridge; it was my first sighting of snow
geese in the city limits. I saw another flock a couple hours later,
high in the sky over Lake Union - it might have been the same birds.

Just after the first snow goose sighting, while walking around the
snow and ice covered streets in Queen Anne I watched a single crow
harrassing a beautiful merlin, who perched for a time atop a tall
conifer before being driven off by the persistant corvid.

Minutes after that, I caught a quick glimpse of a woodpecker working
the trunk of another conifer in the neighborhood. Because of its
size, I initially thought it was a hairy - but when I relocated it on
the far side of the trunk, I was surprised to see it was a sapsucker,
another first for me in the city limits. Given the extent of red on
its head, neck, and nape, I suspect it was a hybrid
red-naped/red-breasted - it looked much more like a red-naped to me,
well out of range.

Just before heading inside, there were two Anna's hummingbirds
fighting over a neighbor's feeder. I was happy to see they'd survived
the recent cold snap.


Peter Carr
Seattle, WA
ottotrontor at msn.com