Subject: [Tweeters] Renton Field Trip- 2/24- Scrub Jays
Date: Feb 25 12:11:01 2008
From: amy schillinger - schillingera at hotmail.com



Tweets,
Three of us went on a Rainier Audubon field trip to several parks in the Renton area on Sunday. The weather turned out to be beautiful by late morning. We started at the mouth of the Cedar River looking at gulls. Among them were Herring Gulls, Mew gulls, Ring-billed gulls, Thayer's gulls, and Glaucous-winged gulls. A large raft of Western Grebes were about a mile out.. Too far to comfortably look for a Clark's among them. There were about 100. One of the ugliest immature Bald Eagle we had ever seen soared over just before we left lifting the gulls from the lake.

Next stop was Liberty Park. Our target species were the seemingly resident Scrub Jays along the corner of Houser Way and Bronson. Walking along the busy road we spotted one in an oak tree across the street with another flying back and forth near by. We stopped to scope it, noting the disheveled appearance this one had. These Scrub Jays have well defined breast band, brighter coloration, and whitish under tail coverts of the Pacific race. Rounding the corner we looked across Bronson at another Scrub in a young Hemlock tree just next to a water retention pond near the on ramp to I-405. It was scolding and calling loud enough that it could be heard even though it was sitting right next to I-405. Amazing that these birds are not bothered by the freeway and busy roads.

On to Riverview Park on Highway 169 we added Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Chesnut-backed Chickadee, and Brown Creeper to our list.

Finally, we stopped at Ron Regis Park. Here we added Red-Tailed Hawk, Wigeon, Bewicks Wren, 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, Ring-necked Duck, Fox Sparrow, Gadwall, and an Anna's Hummingbird (which was doing display flights. Two adult Bald Eagles soared through mimicking each other in flight.

All of these parks can be accessed individually by car or by foot on the Cedar River Trail. A great day with a total of 45 species for the day. Anyone wanting directions to any of the above named parks can email me. I am more than happy to share great birding "holes".

In order of appearance,
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
Common Golden eye
Western Grebe
Mew Gull
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Thayer's Gull
Bufflehead
Double-crested Cormorant
Horned Grebe
Canada Goose
Coots
Common Merganser
Crow
Immature Bald Eagle/Adult Bald Eagle
Mallard
Black-capped Chickadee
Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (singing)
Downey Woodpecker
Song Sparrow
Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Flicker
Spotted Towhee
Stellar's Jay
Winter Wren
Brown Creeper (singing)
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Robin
Red-tailed Hawk
Bewick's Wren
American Wigeon
Ring-necked Duck
Kingfisher
Fox Sparrow (H)
Goldfinch
Hairy Woodpecker
Pied-billed Grebe
Gadwall

Amy Schillinger
Renton
schillingera at hotmail.com



_________________________________________________________________
Climb to the top of the charts!?Play the word scramble challenge with star power.
http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_jan