Subject: [Tweeters] Snoqualmie Valley - Northern Pintail,
Date: Feb 11 15:51:38 2010
From: johntubbs at comcast.net - johntubbs at comcast.net
Hi everyone,
Nothing out of the ordinary here, but for those of you who? really like good looks at Northern Pintail males, there have been a half dozen or so hanging out in flooded field sections of the Patterson Creek Farm a couple miles west of Fall City on Highway 202.? The nice thing about this area is that the birds are often in the flooded areas only a few yards from the road that runs between the farm and the Little League ballfield.? This road is lightly traveled and the birds can be seen very close- up with binocs without exiting the car.? These fields attract shorebirds periodically during migration as well, so are always worth a? look at those times.? Just northeast of the ballfield this afternoon there was a beautiful adult male Northern Harrier working the fields.?
In the mixed flock of ducks with the pintails were Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon and Mallards.? Try as I might, I couldn't turn any of the wigeon into Eurasians or any of the Green-winged Teal into Common Teal.
Swans were seen at multiple places in the valley as well - several individuals in the water at the Pepper Retriever Ground ponds east of West Snoqualmie River Road near Novelty Hill; a large flock (perhaps 50) in the large fields by the red barn at the corner of West Snoqualmie River Road and 100th; and a lone bird on the water at Sikes Lake.? Sikes Lake also had Double-crested Cormorant, Pied-billed Grebe, Common Merganser, American Wigeon and American Coot.?
Raptors were limited to Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawks and a lone American Kestrel.?
My visit to the valley was around 1:00 pm ?on the way home from classes, so I only spent about an hour birding by car primarily.
John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net