Got a late start on this glorious spring morning but saw 2 BLACK-TAILED DEER
on Woodinville Duvall Rd around 9 AM. However that timing was not too bad
as the Snoqualmie Valley was heavily fogged in as my wife, dogs, and I drove
up toward Crescent Lake. Then just as we crossed the river from High Bridge
Rd to Crescent Lake Rd the fog quickly burned off and in a flooded corn
field on the north side of the road we found 30 GREATER and 3 LESSER
YELLOWLEGS along with a pair of Green-winged Teal and a threesome of male
Mallards (on return later this lawn-size puddle also had 20 Glaucous-winged,
10 California, and 6 Ring-billed Gulls). At Crescent Lake Wildlife Area
our free-roaming and free-swimming dogs were a handicap for passerines but
we did see a single California Quail, 19 Ring-necked Ducks, and a pair of
Wood Ducks. However in the spirit of a kinder, gentler Tweeters community I
did get my dogs under control when another visitor came by, which I thought
was pretty considerate especially since he was carrying a camera with
medium-sized lens. ;-)



At the Reformatory Pond on 203rd St SE, the duck numbers were down to less
than 100 visible, though glimpses convinced me that more were hidden in the
high shoreline grass; still too much water for shorebirds. My big find was
the (Greater?) SANDHILL CRANE in the corn stubble on the other side of the
pond. I had missed this bird on a half dozen earlier visits this year.
Also had a single female CANVASBACK possibly nesting on the east end of the
pond. On the return trip we had 4 Bald Eagles and another deer on High
Bridge Rd.



We made one more 20 minute stop around 11 AM at Cottage Lake where we had 4
OSPREY flying over lake including 1 that caught a small fish. The birds may
have been responding to a fish stocking as a boy caught a 10 inch Rainbow
Trout from the dock, and there was also a COMMON LOON, a Double-crested
Cormorant, a Belted Kingfisher, and 10 Bufflehead on the lake (though we
missed mergansers seen on previous visits). We had a total of 38 bird
species for this enjoyable short morning outing.



Bob Schmidt, Bothell, WA

bobs at world hyphen wide dot com