I?have met several Tweetsters this week at the marina and?marsh?who were out looking for?the shore birds and?horned grebes that I have mentioned in my previous posts.??Here is an update for those of you who may be headed?my way?this weekend.? I'm the gray-haired guy with the big honkin' lens,?WSU ballcap (Go Cougs!), and (most of the time) Korean son in tow.?? Be sure to say "hi" if you see me.
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Most of the viewing angles?from the?boardwalk and walkway?face south.?? The best?time for using spotting scopes and telephoto lenses?is later in the evening (6-8pm) when the sun is low in the west.?? This reduces the glare and heat waves coming off?the mud?earlier in the afternoon when the sun is overhead or slightly to the south.??
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There were flocks of what I believe were least sandpipers (definitely yellow legs) on the mudflats Thursday afternoon.??The Virginia rails continue to be heard but not seen from deep within the cattails.? I have heard marsh wrens in the cattails?between viewing platforms # 3 & 4, but I have yet?to see any.???Song sparrows are serving as their stand-ins.? Red-winged black birds are prevalent?and very entertaining.
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A?few swallows?have been making fly-overs.? The resident Anna's hummingbirds have staked out?viewing platforms #1 (Wesley's) and #3 (McInroe's).?? This year I have not seen Elmer perched above platform #2, the?main viewing platform near the parking lot. ?
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At ground level the marsh is bordered on three sides?by trees.??Pt. Edwards?is the ridge?above the condos to the south.? Keep an eye out for hawks, eagles, and falcons perched in the trees around the marsh and up on Pt. Edwards.? A year ago I photographed a peregrine falcon flying across the marsh with a sandpiper in its talons.? Thursday I photographed one flying over the marsh from a perch on Pt. Edwards.? I suspect that the sandpiper buffet?will draw more raptors to the trees around the marsh and up on Pt. Edwards.??
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As long as?you are in the area, check out the Willow Creek fish hatchery?at the foot of Pine St. off Hwy. 104 and the?Pt. Edwards public walkway below the condos.?? The walkway?is accessible from Pine St.?at the condo maintenance office.???
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At least one horned grebe is still in the marina and the Brant continue to gather in the Sound off?Sunset Ave.? The past two evenings I have seen flocks of sanderlings flying over the Sound off Sunset Ave. as well.???
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Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USA