Subject: [Tweeters] Fort Lewis - 6-17-2009 - Another quickstop -- Northern
Date: Jun 17 21:00:31 2009
From: Denis DeSilvis - avnacrs4birds at q.com


Tweeters,

Just before noon, Jeff Cohen and I made a quick run to Fort Lewis after the
Nisqually walk to check to see if NORTHERN BOBWHITES (NOBO) and
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (YBCH) were still at the Muck Creek Bridge area. As we
arrived at the bridge, we could hear at least two NOBOs calling from the
north side of Muck Creek. We enticed one bird to come close to us, and Jeff
managed to take a good photo of the NOBO sitting on the bridge abutment.
Later, we heard at least three different bobwhites calling, one of which was
well east of the road in some oaks.



The YBCH responded immediately, and was at its usual haunt about 200 yards
south of the bridge and east of the road.



We also found NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, VIOLET-GREEN, and TREE SWALLOWS at the
bridge, along with the female WOOD DUCK and young, which skittered into the
vegetation before we could get good looks at those. CALIFORNIA QUAIL,
WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, SAVANNAH SPARROW, YELLOW WARBLER, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY,
WILLOW FLYCATCHER, and other birds were also in that area.



We proceeded on to Lewis Lake, where we found the OSPREY standing on the
edge of the nest, and tallied ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT,
YELLOW WARBLER, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, and RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER. The latter
species was our primary reason for going to Lewis Lake, and we weren't
disappointed. We found an adult bird that was feeding a juvenile - a bird
that looked WAY too small to have fledged. It was at the base of the nest
tree, a cottonwood that's right next to the water on the west side of the
lake near the graded boat launch. The youngster continued to call, but
didn't move as we came by the tree. Jeff got some excellent photos of this
bird.



All in all, another good "quickstop" at Fort Lewis.



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com