Hi Tweets,



For those who like to follow the birds at Lake Sam, here's my report of our montly walk: Stan and I birded with 10 others at Eastside Audubon's monthly bird walk at Lake Sammamish State Park on August 13, 2013, from 8 am to noon. It was sunny with light clouds, 3 mph winds, with temps 57-75 degrees F. HIGHLIGHTS: We came across several mixed flocks and enjoyed sorting through to see who was there. 1 NORTHERN SHOVELER with the Mallards and Gadwalls; 1 young GREEN HERON flew in and perched awhile in the small cove in the left corner of the west beach, then flew off; 2 young OSPREY were perched on one of the snags near the cove and were making many attempts to fish but, alas, not successfully; 1 first year BALD EAGLE putting the Gulls up; 1 MERLIN, who had likely recently finished feeding, was perched and preening just above us--we got great scope views (thanks Karen!); 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER; 2 feisty ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS; 1 BELTED KINGFISHER was vocalizing and flying low along Issaquah Creek; 3 young RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS (1 perched and preening in a large Willow Tree and two more were seen very briefly in the large cottonwood forest); at least 4 WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES still singing; at least 4 WILLOW FLYCATCHERS "FITZbewing" and witting; 1 WARBLING VIREO feeding a young Brown-headed Cowbird; 1 RED-EYED VIREO still singing from the same large cottonwood trees as last month; 2 NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS vocalizing and flying near Issaquah Creek; 10 BARN SWALLOWS over the lake; 1 SWAINSON'S THRUSH was perched and loudly witting, then flew across the path in front of us; 4 YELLOW WARBLERS, a couple still singing; 4 BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS; 2 WILSON'S WARBLERS (1 singing); 5 WESTERN TANAGERS (including a bright-colored male); and 2 PURPLE FINCHES. 49 species for the day; still at 107 species for the year. The next bird walk is SEPTEMBER 24. No pre-registration, just show up depending on your mood or the weather. Since this is a state park, a Discover Pass is necessary to park ($10 daily, $30 annual). We meet in the large parking lot to the left just inside the main park entrance (not the boat launch entrance).


View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14919000

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)



Sharon Aagaard

Bellevue WA

scormieraa001 at hotmail.com