A couple hours after the White-fronted Geese fly-over, over my yard here in
Eastgate, and with an absolutely gorgeous morning, I went for a morning
stroll through the Lake Hills Greenbelt, Phantom Lake to Larson Lake,
starting at Phantom Lake along 156th SE which is only about 1.5mi north of my
place as a crow (or a goose) flies. Just past 9am and just as I reached the
end of the boardwalk overlooking Phantom Lake, low and behold, a flock of
exactly 40 WHITE-FRONTED GEESE sailed over head. Talk about amazing timing!
A minute later, I would have missed the whole thing and am guessing the
same flock as earlier. Coming in from the SW, and noisy as before, they just
kind of slowed as if thinking about landing and just glided overhead,
still 12-1500 feet up, and just kept going east toward Lake Sammamish. This
alone would have made my day, but TWICE, is the more remarkable since I've
never seen White-fronteds around here apart from the isolated one or two
mixed with Canada / Cackler's once in awhile. My earlier report and count of
25-30 might have been a wee bit low and thought at the time I maybe heard
another piece of that flock somewhere I couldn't see. So for now, or for
today at least, there seems to be a little flock of 40 White-fronted Geese
roaming around the Eastside along the I-90 corridor.

The Lake Hills Greenbelt was really birdy this morning, very lively, and
full of song. It truly felt, smelled, and sounded like early Spring. As
Pine Siskins seem to be largely absent or at best quite local so far it
seems, the only other species of special note were the Pine Siskins. Some 75 or
so feeding amongst the alder catkins near Phantom Lake and a short ways
further north.

No Varied Thrushes seen or heard in the Greenbelt, but just to add comment
to other's observations this winter, I've been hosting the normal and
usual complement of 6-8 winter time regulars in and around the yard in
Eastgate. They are especially fond of the white millet loosely broadcast under the
protective dark cover of the extensive shrubbery (rhodies, Oregon grape,
sword fern, etc) and along the gravel walkway. Never a lot or more than
they and the other ground feeders will eat in a day so as to minimize risk of
mold, spoilage, and undesirable vermin like rats. Loosely broadcasting
into the shrubbery, gives the birds some degree of protection from marauding
accipiters and the occasional but thankfully none seen this winter
neighborhood cats.

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA