Hi Tweeters,

Boy was it sweet have the sun on my winter white arms today:)

Some highlights:

at home the Pine Siskens are still garnishing my paycheck in Niger seed.

at the Emerald Downs ponds on M St. I heard but could not locate my first Common Yellowthroat of the year calling. Heard my first Savannah Sparrow song of the year there too. The Peregrine Falcon that has wintered there for several years made a pass through the waterfowl.

at the new Thomas Pond a Green Heron has returned. Across Hwy 167 from here there were about 300ish Cackling Geese that would be forced to the air by a pair of hunting Bald Eagles.

at the marsh next to Certainteed Windows I accidently flushed up an American Bittern while I was answering the call of nature...there has to be pun in there somewhere. Bushtits were working on a nest here and the Yellow-rumped Warblers were beautiful and fun to watch hawking insects.

I went north and backtracked from Boeing Ponds. Boeing Ponds should now be renamed Boeing Beaver Ponds. There is a huge lodge that will soon be higher than the roadway and the water level is super high even accounting for the earlier heavy rains. The only highlight here was a couple of Ruddy Ducks, one holding its tail at a 90 degree angle.

at the road that runs E/W from Frager North of 212th (206th?) there was 7 Greater Yellowlegs in the mud puddled field. Last night I stopped on the other side of this huge field on 212th and saw about a dozen Dunlin one of which was going into breeding plumage.

at Riverview Marsh there was one Canvasback, likely a 1st year male but kind of hard to tell, it was actively diving and covered in mud. They sure seem to do mud well. Lots of Virginia Rail calling here and I saw one chipmunk.

on the powerline trail west of Kent Ponds I saw one Western Scrub Jay, an Eastern Gray Squirrel with a whole donut trying to hoist it unsuccessfully up a telephone pole (oh for a video camera...) and one female robin sunbathing-in a stupor. I could sort of relate as I did have an urge to just lay in the path and soak up the sun in a stupor, but I didn't want to have to get back up again so I took a pass.

from the fields area of Kent Ponds looking into the pond near where the Tree Sparrow was a few years ago I saw a lone Trumpeter Swan in the pond. A garter snake was lying across the path at one point. There are a pair of Bald Eagles that act like they may want to nest across the Green River, but I have noticed this hanging out behavior from paired eagles in the same spot before but they never do anything about it such as build an actual nest...maybe someday they will.

I just heard a Barn Owl fly over calling, nice way to end this great day.

Kathy
Roosting in Kent, near Lake Meridian
(chukarbird at yahoo dot com)
Any driving directions contained within this message are given as a courtesy, beware, author is directionally challenged and will not vouch for them.