Reposting this sighting. Don't know why it appeared to be so huge when it
first went in.



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com



From: Denis DeSilvis [mailto:avnacrs4birds at q.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 8:16 PM
To: 'tweeters at u.washington.edu'
Subject: Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM)/Roy 5-8-2010 - Crossbills;
Swallows; and more



Tweeters,

Although there was frost on the ground when I left Roy for our meeting,
place, the day warmed up rapidly and turned out fine for the eight of us on
a Seattle Audubon trip to JBLM on Saturday. Although we didn't hit the ponds
or lakes on Fort Lewis (thus no waterfowl), we did manage to tally 61
species in our 6 hours in the field. Camas was in full bloom and the blue
carpet of these was quite apparent in many areas.



As we went from the main gate to Range Control, we had BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS
and a GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL.



Outside Range Control, we had EUROPEAN STARLING, AMERICAN ROBIN, SAVANNAH
SPARROW, HOUSE FINCH, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, WESTERN
BLUEBIRD, AMERICAN CROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO, VAUX'S SWIFT (spotter thanks to
Jamie), and the first of many, many sightings of RED CROSSBILLS. In fact,
I've not ever seen or heard as many Red Crossbills at Fort Lewis as I have
in the past three weeks. Nearly every place we went we either saw or heard
them.



We headed down the Second Division Range Road to the area to the southwest
of the new ORV park (yep, even on the Fort) along the eastern edge of
Training Area (TA) 4, we walked along the dirt road that borders the treed
hillside - a sure area to produce warblers, etc., this time of year. We
found TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, CASSIN'S VIREO, PURPLE FINCH, PINE SISKIN, SPOTTED
TOWHEE, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, WILSON'S WARBLER,
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER (excellent views of this
bird), HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, WESTERN TANAGER, SONG
SPARROW, RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, CHESTNUT-BACKED
CHICKADEE, NORTHERN FLICKER, EVENING GROSBEAK, and a BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK.



Along Story Road, we found HOUSE WREN, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, YELLOW
WARBLER, and RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD. We backtracked to the Range Road and headed
east along the southern edge of TA 5, where we stopped for lunch at OP 8,
one of the great overlooks of the prairie area and of Mt Rainier (peak not
visible while we had lunch). There we picked up a displaying RED-TAILED HAWK
(male with legs down flying over the female), BARN SWALLOW, AMERICAN
GOLDFINCH, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, and BEWICK'S WREN.



Heading south toward the Muck Creek bridge, Steve spotted a nice male
AMERICAN KESTREL on top of a Ponderosa pine near range 76. We stopped at OP
3, and heard a singing VESPER SPARROW. At the bridge area, we saw lots of
NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, along with Tree and Violet-green Swalllows,
but no Purple Martins. We also picked up CALIFORNIA QUAIL, RED-WINGED
BLACKBIRD, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, MOURNING DOVE, PILIATED WOODPECKER, and
BUSHTIT. No Northern Bobwhites heard in the area (and I've not heard one
since last October).



At Lewis Lake, the OSPREY pair was on the nest, and we had good views of
them. Passing Brandenburg Marsh, we heard a BELTED KINGFISHER.



At my home in Roy, we saw about 20 BAND-TAILED PIGEONS (34 of those here
today), along with about 30-40 Evening Grosbeaks. We also spotted a DOWNY
WOODPECKER and heard a SORA.



The complete list of birds is below, with those we only heard marked with an
(H):

California Quail (H)

Osprey

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Sora (H)

Killdeer (at Starbucks at Exit 119)

Glaucous-winged Gull

Band-tailed Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Vaux's Swift

Rufous Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher (H)

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Hammond's Flycatcher (H)

Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Cassin's Vireo

Western Scrub-Jay

American Crow

Common Raven

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

N. Rough-winged Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Bushtit (H)

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Bewick's Wren (H)

House Wren

Western Bluebird

American Robin

European Starling

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler (H)

Townsend's Warbler

MacGillivray's Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson's Warbler (H)

Western Tanager (H)

Spotted Towhee

Vesper Sparrow (H)

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Brewer's Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Purple Finch

House Finch

Red Crossbill

Pine Siskin

American Goldfinch

Evening Grosbeak



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com