Subject: [Tweeters]: A nice morning in Edmonds
Date: May 18 23:33:06 2009
From: Kevin Mack - kevin_mack at comcast.net


Hi All,

I headed down to Edmonds Marsh at around 11 this morning and was greeted by
a very energetic (is there any other kind?) Marsh Wren. He was busy
building a nest, but paused periodically to burst into song and pose for the
camera. Further out in the marsh there were at least 10 Great Blue Herons
in varied states of activity (hunting, preening, resting). A male Anna?s
Hummingbird was perched on top of a small cedar by the boardwalk at the
northwest edge of the marsh. It was a bit windy, so there weren?t a lot of
small birds out and about, but I saw the usual Song Sparrows, Red-winged
Blackbirds, European Starlings, Spotted Towhees and American Crows. A few
Tree Swallows were braving the wind overhead.

>From the Marsh I stopped by Brackett?s Landing. There were many divers in
the water, but they were of the human, rather than avian variety. I left
and went to Yost Park instead. Yost Park was full of activity. As soon as
I got out of the car I heard chickadees, Bushtits, a Pacific Slope
Flycatcher and many other voices coming from the woods. As I stepped onto
the trail I noticed a male American Robin perched on a stump to my right.
He made a quick trip to the ground to capture an insect and then disappeared
into a nearby laurel. The male robin emerged from the laurel and I heard a
second adult bird vocalizing from within. The male made several more trips
to and from the bush with mouthfuls of food. I never heard any young
vocalizing so I assume the male was taking food to his mate who was busy
incubating eggs on a nest in the bush. As I was watching the robin a sound
on my left drew my attention and I looked up to see a female Eastern Gray
Squirrel with one of her young in her mouth. She was attempting to drag the
youngster back up to her nest (an old woodpecker hole), but he was quite a
mouthful. She dropped him, but he spread his legs and caught himself on the
trunk. He then climbed back up to the nest on his own. I guess he got the
message.

As I continued down the trail I ran into a Spotted Towhee with young, a
Black-capped Chickadee with young and a Winter Wren that had a mouthful of
insects that I suspect were for his or her young. Throughout the park there
seemed to be a Wilson?s Warbler explosion and I seemed to hear or see them
almost everywhere I went. I saw one Western Tanager that perched
momentarily on top of a snag and then flew down into the branches of a
nearby maple. I also ran into multiple Anna?s Hummingbirds and a lone
Cooper?s Hawk that caused a bit of a commotion among all the small birds as
he flew through the area. Above the tree canopy crows were busy driving off
a Red-tailed Hawk, so I guess the Cooper?s Hawk was lucky that the mob was
distracted.

I discovered an active Bushtit nest in a salmonberry bush right next to the
trail. Adult birds were very busy bringing a constant supply of insects to
the nest and it sounded like there were quite a few hungry mouths inside
that were in need of feeding. It was amusing to see the way the whole nest
would move whenever an adult bird would arrive and the young hidden inside
the hanging pouch would jockey for position.

All in all, it was a very nice outing. I posted photos of the Marsh Wren
and a few others on my web site. If you are interested, they can be found
in the New Photos gallery here:
http://www.goatislandimages.com/photogalleries/photogalleries.html

The full list from this morning is below.

05/18/09

Edmonds Marsh
* Marsh Wren
* Song Sparrow
* European Starling
* Red-winged Blackbird
* American Crow
* Spotted Towhee
* Tree Swallow
* Anna?s Hummingbird
* Great Blue Heron
* Mallard

Yost Park
* Black-capped Chickadee
* Bushtit
* Wilson?s Warbler
* Winter Wren
* Spotted Towhee
* American Robin
* Pacific Slope Flycatcher
* Brown Creeper
* Western Tanager
* Song Sparrow
* Tree Swallow
* American Crow
* Anna?s Hummingbird
* Cooper?s Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk

Good birding,

Kevin Mack
Edmonds, WA
www.goatislandimages.com