Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Woodpecker quest, and other Renton sightings
Date: Apr 6 19:13:45 2013
From: Tim Brennan - tsbrennan at hotmail.com
Hey Tweets! First of all, to answer the woodpecker question from a few posts back - my favorite spot is Renton Park, especially the north end, near Lindbergh High School. I've had the five common species there, with none of them being any more reliable than the other. Today it was Pileated and Flicker. I actually found a break in the downpour this morning, and stepped out of the house with the idea of seeing what I could find on foot with a little jogging, a little walking. While my nearest ponds let me down on ducks (I've had Mallard, Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall and Bufflehead a short walk from home), they did have some Red-winged Blackbirds, probably as close as they get to home, and more than I've seen there before. Over the course of the morning, there were plenty of finches, including House Finch, Pine Siskins, Red Crossbills (just type 3 today, but occasionally type 4), FOY Purple Finches, and later I had American Goldfinch when I'd made it to the Renton Natural Area. Renton Park had both chickadees, Bushtit, the aforementioned woodpeckers, a briefly singing Hutton's Vireo, Bewicks and Pacific Wren, Golden Crowned Kinglets, Robins and Red-breasted Nuthatch, with Golden-crowned Sparrow and Brown Creeper on the far end of the Neighborhoods between there and the Renton Natural Area added Downy Woodpecker, Cooper's Hawk, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Anna's Hummingbird, and the RNA itself added White-crowned Sparrow and Rufous Hummingbird. The rain started to come down, so I didn't make the side trip to look again for the Osprey down at Royal Hills (checked later - there was one on the cell tower), and didn't get over to Cascade Shopping Center for Brewer's Blackbird, Red-tailed Hawk, or the Killdeer I passed there earlier in the week. Still a respectable 35 species. May have been the most I've found on foot from the house - something to try again in a few weeks for sure! Tim BrennanRenton