Here follows a summary of birds detected (seen/heard) during 24 generally
fast-paced / no 'dilly-dally' walks through the ~3.3 mile long Lake Hills
Greenbelt (LHG) loop in southeast Bellevue between Phantom Lake and Larson
Lake, between 156th & 148th Avenues SE and ~SE 20th Place to Main Street
during the month of October 2012. The number following each species
represents the number of walks on which a species was detected. Route and routine
always the same with emphasis #1, the walk & exercise, and just getting
myself out of my cocoon, and #2 just simply 'ticking' the bird species casually
seen or heard along the way without going all CBC-anal about it recording
'exact' numbers of everything like I used to. Doing that defeats the
prime objective, #1, and turns what should be a 2-hour dash into a 4-5hr
slow-slog marathon. Besides, who really cares whether there's 18 Song Sparrows
or 27 on any given day, 62 American Robins or 2,439, etc., etc., etc. This
is turning into an obsession/compulsion, it's fun, it's lean, and it's
GREEN. Close to home, commute distance via gas guzzling motorized vehicle,
~3500 yards ... phew, what a road trip! Thank God daylight savings turns off
soon and we can roll back the clock an hour! Too bad we can't roll it
back THREE and just keep it that way all year. I'm just an early riser by
nature, always have been, always will be I suppose.

*Some select interesting general notes/observations/trends briefly
included at the bottom.

total days & walks -- 24
cumulative walk time -- 49.6 hrs
average walk time -- 2.1 hrs
cumulative species 'units' -- 892
average species / walk -- 37.2
total species = 85

*Greater White-fronted Goose -- 1
Canada Goose -- 6
Cackling Goose -- 2
Wood Duck -- 15
Gadwall -- 3
*Eurasian Wigeon -- 1
American Wigeon -- 9
Mallard -- 24
Northern Shoveler -- 11
Northern Pintail -- 3
Green-winged Teal -- 4
Bufflehead -- 10
Ring-necked Duck -- 18
Greater Scaup -- 21
Hooded Merganser -- 2
Ruddy Duck -- 4
Pied-billed Grebe -- 23
Horned Grebe -- 1
Double-crested Cormorant -- 4
Great Blue Heron -- 14
Green Heron -- 1
Bald Eagle -- 3
Northern Harrier -- 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk -- 2
Cooper's Hawk -- 10
Red-tailed Hawk -- 16
Merlin -- 3
Virginia Rail -- 9
American Coot -- 21
Killdeer -- 1
Wilson's Snipe -- 6
Ring-billed Gull -- 1
Glaucous-winged Gull -- 9
Rock Pigeon -- 18
Band-tailed Pigeon -- 12
*Barn Owl -- 7
Barred Owl -- 1
Short-eared Owl -- 1
Anna's Hummingbird -- 13
Belted Kingfisher -- 9
Red-breasted Sapsucker -- 1
Downy Woodpecker -- 7
Hairy Woodpecker -- 1
Northern (R-s) Flicker -- 23
Pileated Woodpecker -- 6
Hutton's Vireo -- 1
*Steller's Jay -- 24
American Crow -- 24
Common Raven -- 1
Black-capped Chickadee -- 24
Chestnut-backed Chickadee -- 10
Bushtit -- 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch -- 20
Bewick's Wren -- 23
Pacific Wren -- 10
Marsh Wren -- 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet -- 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- 21
Cedar Waxwing -- 4
Hermit Thrush -- 1
American Robin -- 24
Varied Thrush -- 14
European Starling -- 15
Orange-crowned Warbler -- 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler -- 8
Townsend's Warbler -- 2
*Western Tanager -- 1
Spotted Towhee -- 24
Savannah Sparrow -- 1
Fox Sparrow -- 24
Song Sparrow -- 24
Lincoln's Sparrow -- 4
*White-throated Sparrow -- 6
White-crowned Sparrow -- 22
Golden-crowned Sparrow -- 23
Dark-eyed ('Oregon') Junco -- 23
Red-winged Blackbird -- 24
Brewer's Blackbird -- 1
*Purple Finch -- 24
House Finch -- 24
Red Crossbill -- 2
*Pine Siskin -- 24
American Goldfinch -- 19
Evening Grosbeak -- 13
House Sparrow -- 7

A few notes:
Barn Owl -- one incredibly well-hidden owl in a day-roost Douglas Fir in a
small evergreen grove and only seen off and on and never guaranteed
although perhaps up there somewhere(?) but on a branch even better hidden than
the day before. I give it 5-10 seconds max, instant tick or no tick, and
move on. As for it's not so obvious 'obvious' sleeping perch, it definitely
doesn't seem to like being there when it's wet or has been recently wet and
probably moves to somewhere dryer, ...like maybe a barn somewhere? Too
bad I only found this bird at all on Oct.08 and just about the very last day
of the nearly 3-month long summer dry spell. On that day and soon after
coincidentally bumping into MaryAnn Ruthruff on path who showed me suspicious
feather she'd just found on the path adjacent to that open grove of
evergreens, I wandered in there, literally following a trail of little white
feathers, like following cookie crumbs to the source, until I came to a pile of
white droppings, pellets, and more feathers. Ah-ha, owl roost! Following
a continuing trail of small molted fluffy feathers clinging to and strewn
about on the branches up the trunk, it took only seconds to actually spot
the sleeping Barn Owl straight up overhead. Now unfortunately, with all the
rain, most of the droppings have washed away and those feathers are
gradually disappearing as well, and it's beginning to look like the owl may not
be frequenting this exact spot like it apparently had been doing for quite a
long time during the dryer times. Oh well, better late than never I
guess, and I'll keep checking as part of the routine.

Steller's Jay -- Seems like all the Jays for miles around showed up for a
few days in early October to feast on the acorn crop in just one oak near
Larson Lake. Highest count, ~30 in just that one tree on Oct.5. With the
crop soon depleted a few days later, LHG Steller's Jay life returned to
'normal', one or two here and there and scattered about.

Western Tanager -- LHG season finale(?), one on Oct.01.

Purple Finch -- The heavily red berry-laden Mountain Ashes (central
section) have been loaded with up to 40+ Purple Finches all month long! Never
missed in all 24 walks, adult males curiously were detected only twice
amongst the mix of otherwise all females and presumably immature males. These
Mountain Ashes have been the near daily scene of quite a sensational feeding
frenzy of not only Purple Finches but also American Robins and occasionally
Cedar Waxwings and Evening Grosbeaks. On the rare occasions when little
or no birds are right there when I pass, it's likely because one of the
resident Cooper's Hawks blew through there first.

Pine Siskin -- Siskins have been nervously swirling about all over the
place all month long and never missed in 24 walks, favoring the many
seed/catkin laden alders scattered about. Typically, 80-200, up to 400 on each
visit and one mega-flock of at least 1,000(!) swirling cloud-like over the
northwest corner of Phantom Lake on Oct.22.

Some notable 'rarities' of sorts for LHG I suppose: Greater White-fronted
Goose (single lone goose flyover, Larson Lake, Oct.20), Eurasian Wigeon
(ad male, Phantom Lake, Oct.18), Short-eared Owl (1 high flyover, Larson
Lake, Oct.28), and White-throated Sparrows (at least 3, with 2 kind of
anchored now and fairly dependable on the SE corner of 156th Ave SE and SE 16th St
since Oct.25)

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA