My wife Lauren and I followed directions from Steve Pink to Dike 9 this
morning and after walking a mile down the dike found the male Redhead on the
return at the first main flood "pond" within sight of the car. The main
waterfowl in this extended wetland were families of Canada Goose (> 50
indiv.) however looking closely we found 10 Pied-billed Grebe, 6 American
Wigeon, 1 male Wood Duck, and few Mallards and Ring-necked Ducks. We missed
American Bittern (and Rails) but looks like a great place. We also saw
Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Yellowthroat, and Orange-crowned Warblers and
Black-headed Grosbeaks which I thought was pretty good considering we were
running our 2 dogs, I can hardly hear, and we have no IPod. We also had a
Harbor Seal which is about as far upriver as I have seen one. At the Prison
Farm we found the 2 beautiful breeding plumage Eared Grebes along with a
pair of courting Pied-billed Grebes, a pair of Cinnamon Teal, 2 female
Buffleheads, 2 American Coots, and a handful of Ring-necked, Mallards,
Gadwalls, and Canada Goose. On W Snoqualmie Valley RD NE (= High Bridge Rd)
within sight of King County line, I stopped for a kettle of 10 Turkey
Vultures, except on closer inspection I noticed 2 of these birds were
beautiful adult GOLDEN EAGLEs! If I was a little more anal about county
listing I could probably count this kettle for both counties they were
circling over the line but I had already gotten another Golden Eagle at
Stevens Pass in King County last weekend. Anyway we got 44 bird species in
Snohomish County before 2 PM so now I am watching my feeder and may head
down to Edmonds later for my big county day. Thank you Steve Pink, Dennis
Duffy, and Tweeters for sharing the nature sightings.



Bob Schmidt, Bothell, WA

bobs at world hyphen wide dot com



From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Steve Pink
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 2:36 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Eared Grebe at Monroe



Hi,

Dennis Duffy and I birded Snohomish and Monroe area thisd morning.

There were 2 breeding plumage Eared Grebes at the Prison Farm. Nearby a
Western Kingbird, Bullock's Orioles and B-H Grosbeaks.

At Dike 9 near Snohomish, there was a male Redhead, also an Am. Bittern.

Cheers and good birding,

Steve

Steve Pink Edmonds, WA mailto: pirangas at hotmail.com