Hi Tweeters,

I worked on campus today and got out early enough to walk along Portage Bay, the Montlake Cut and out to the edge of the Montlake Fill (dime parking lot) before it got too dark to bird. What a difference a clear day makes. On the Eastside CBC we had to quit just before 4pm on Sunday due to the very poor lighting conditions, today I could bird til past 4:30. I did not see the N Shrike Kevin Purcell reported, that would have been a new bird for me for the area.

The viewpoint to the Montlake bridge was a regular walking route for me when I worked on campus full time. I saw one Golden-crowned Kinglet today along the cut which was not a common bird at all during my previous regular walks. They breed nearby though because one time a family unit was in the area in summer. Two Great Blue Herons were perched on buildings. Several Yellow-rump Warblers near the indooor tennis courts. Robins going to roost in several places in shrubby thickets near the tennis courts and along the lane by the baseball field. At least 100 of them and probably really double that number but hard to count them. Got to see a Bewick's Wren go into an old woodpecker hole to roost. First time I've seen a B. wren go to roost. It made some racket as it approached then got quiet for a bit before the dash to the roost hole. Black-capped Chickadee's nearby were probably getting ready to roost too but I got tired of waiting for them to
decide. I counted 117 Double-crested Cormorants roosting in the cottonwood trees at the Lk Wa. end of the Montlake cut.

There are hundred's and hundred's of duck, goose, coot, grebe birds way out in the water for the CBC counters joy on Saturday. Many to most I could not identify due to distance, the lighting situation and lack of scope with me.

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.