Hi Tweets:
On Sunday, July 18, a small group of us visited O'Grady Park accessed from the Muckleshoot Plateau near Auburn. Afterwards, I visited M St by Emerald Downs. We had looks at good birds including BARRED OWL and BANK SWALLOW.
At 8:15am we drove out from Auburn on hwy 164, the Auburn-Enumclaw hwy. The weather was cloudy, and cool, about 54 degrees all morning.
Approx. 4 miles past the Muckleshoot Casino area, we turned left onto SE 380th Pl. This is Cooper's Corner. There is an old abandoned gas stn. there. SE 380th turns a couple of times, and then becomes SE 384th, an arterial going east. We saw one Common Raven flying there. A good stop was at 176th Ave SE which turns left from SE 384th St. There are big cottonwoods, and other trees and bushes. Usually you can hear Red-eyed Vireos in that area, but we never heard Red-eyes all day. We saw and heard Willow Flycatcher going whit, and saw and heard a singing W Wood-Pewee. A Swainson's Thrush, and a Warbling Vireo were singing. We could see a female Rufous Hummer. We heard a male Blk-headed Grosbeak sing a few notes, but not a song. Amy heard a very-soft call. Eh, eh. Eh-eh-eh. She immediately ID'd it as a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE call. Finally we saw a juv. Bullock's in the blackberries, and a female Bullock's came in to feed it.
We continued east on 384th to SE 188th Ave where we turned left. This is a long road w/ houses and fields. We could hear a Common Yellowthroat singing along there. Amer. Goldfinches were there, and everywhere on the trip. 188th deadends at its north end, and there is a trailhead for O'GRADY PARK. We heard a Purple Finch sing, and watched a very-close SWAINSON'S THRUSH at a garden there. A female or young male Rufous Hummer was foraging and flying about. A Dark-eyed Junco was perched up on a pole giving a very, loud and harsh trill. Hard to tell that call from that of a Spotted Towhee.
The King County park trail is an old road that gradually drops to the Green River. The trail is about 2 miles long. Horse people and walkers use it.
Down along the trail there is mixed woods. PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS were singing everywhere. Of course you couldn't see them. We were griping because they never come back to the same perch, are very active, and fly all around but hide. Finally Amy and Randy saw one flying and perching. There were quite a few Winter Wrens and Brown Creepers. We watched one Brown Creeper. Then there were 3 of them on the same tree, and above them was a juv RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER with its dark-colored (not red) head.
Down near the bottom, before you cross a bridge over a stream, Randy played a Barred Owl call. There was no response. We came out below that onto the river area, and about 10 minutes later two BARRED OWLS (BDOW's) started hooting who cooks for you and doing the monkey call. Randy played their call, and one of them came over to the edge of the woods and watched us. The other one stayed in the backround.
At the river's edge, we stood on a bank that is about 8 feet high. BANK SWALLOWS (BANS) were flying about. They fly very fast, and we carefully watched to try to see the various field marks like the long narrow tail, the narrow wings, the white underparts w/ the black band, and the color of their backs vs. their rumps. Randy was able to get good pictures of them as they whizzed by. They were going 30 mph? and he still got some images showing all the field marks. Wow! We estimated that there were at least 20 of the swallows, probably more. They would be flying extremely fast and would zip into their nest holes, which can be 4 ft. long! They never slowed down as they went in.
Across the river, a SPOTTED SANDPIPER was bobbing along, and looked like it was losing its breeding plumage.
As 3 of us walked back up the trail and we were about 4 blocks up past the stream, Randy played a Pigmy owl call. The two BDOW's started calling and one flew in over our heads to perch in a tree and watch us. Randy got some great pix of it.
Two of our party left about noon, and Carolyn and I drove back to SE 176th St. There she started hearing the soft stutter call, eh-eh. Eh-eh-eh. We located a juv Bullock's Oriole calling and fluffing its wings. It was farther down the road than where we heard orioles earlier. A 1st year male Oriole came in near the baby, and then we saw a female Oriole feed it.
After the trip, I visited a couple of spots near Auburn. At a little area near the north end of Western St, I saw a low-flying VAUX'S SWIFT. There were lots of bugs flying.
Then I visited M STREET which is along the frontage road in front of Emerald Downs. At the second pullout I tried to view the pond, but couldn't see over the tall weeds. A flock of about 30 LEAST SANDPIPERS flew over the pond. Then a male LAZULI BUNTING flew through my scope view and landed in the big bush that is in from the second pullout. The Laz was silent. It perched there, and preened, and looked like it had taken a bath. Two MOURNING DOVES flew past. A VAUX'S SWIFT flew briefly over the pond.
I drove down on M St past the Muckleshoot ramshackle barns, and heard another Lazuli Bunting singing. Eventually a male Laz perched up on the south barn and sang. It was 2:40 and finally the sun had come out.
I drove around the north side of the barns to the blocked-off 29th St and parked near the bridge. Common Yellowthroats were singing, and a Red-tailed Hawk adult was soaring. I walked the Interurban trail trying to find a view of the M St pond but couldn't see past all the vegetation. A probable YELLOW WARBLER sang in the bushes by a ditch next to the trail.
I know now, that I probably need to walk up near the M St pond, and hope the coyote doesn't scare me away like it did a couple of years ago. It was a good day of birding, not the usual doldrums of summer.
Randy Bjorklund sent a msg w/ some wonderful images of Bank Swallows, Barred Owls, and a couple more pix from the trip. If anyone would like me to fwd his msg, I'd be glad to send it.
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines
carol.schulz50 at gmail.com