Hi all,

My wife and I walked the loop trail in Discovery park at around 9 am today.
It was a beautiful walk, and not without interesting bird encounters. We
started in the North Parking lot and headed first to the two small ponds in
the woods west of the lot. Someone in the nearby neighborhood was running a
very loud leaf blower and the only bird that was tolerating the racket was a
lone mallard drake. We moved on past the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural
Center and continued through the woods and down to the beach. In the woods
we encountered a noisy mixed flock of Black-capped Chickadees and Bushtits
as well as Winter Wrens, Spotted Towhees, Song Sparrows and a robin or two.
Out in the sound there were plenty of grebes (Westerns), Double-crested
Cormorants and hundreds of gulls in a swarm over the the water just off the
sewage treatment plant. There were also quite a few American Wigeons
swimming in the sound and hanging out on the beach with the gulls. An
Anna?s Hummingbird buzzed my wife as we walked near the wetland adjacent to
the beach. We saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a few House Finches and more
chickadees and Bushtits as we continued on our way up to the South Meadow.
On a bush in the South Meadow a young Northern Shrike was perched and
surveying his or her surroundings. It was quite a beautiful bird, and I
managed to capture a few photos before we moved on. They can be viewed in
my New Photos gallery here: http://goatislandimages.com/photogalleries.htm.

The rest of the hike was pretty quiet bird-wise, but very noisy human-wise.
At least a half-dozen school groups were in the park and the kids were
having a blast. Julie and I were both happy to see that they got to spend
some time outside in nature on such a beautiful morning. Before we arrived
back at our car we did spot a Golden-crowned Sparrow and two Varied
Thrushes, but the rest of the birds were steering clear of all the happy
little human voices :o).

Kevin Mack
Edmonds, WA
www.goatislandimages.com
Join us on Saturday December 6th for Wild Art, a celebration of wildlife art
and photography. Details can be found at www.goatislandimages.com or
www.leaningcedarstudio.com