Okay, this wasn't your traditional one-day once-a-year fund raising team
spirit bird watching event. Me of course, and always 'outside the box' it
seems, I had to go be creative. So what has now transpired over the past 16
days and 16 consecutive morning loop walks thru Lake Hills Greenbelt
(LHG), Bellevue (May 1 thru 16), is the cumulative May total (the month's final
total for me btw), counting ONLY those recorded personally. Misses
reported by others are here noted for the record but don't count. The
self-imposed pledge destined to Eastside Audubon: each species recorded is worth $1
and each species unit is worth $.01.


But wait before rushing to judgement that I'm some crazy 'ol cheapskate;
what about those "species units", what's that mean exactly??? Simply put,
the "unit" number represents the total number of days that a particular
species was recorded. For example, American Robin, all 16 days(walks), thus
valued at $1.16, the maximum possible. Had a California Condor or
Ivory-billed Woodpecker come sailing over, a 'one walk wonder', those so-so okay
birds I guess would have been worth only a mere $.01, ...well, $1.01 actually.
Okay, all total ain't much, but anything is better than nuth'n.



For me, May is abbreviated and abruptly stops stone cold dead right here
and now(!), mid-stream(!), since duty calls, and the grand finale last
"working" lap to official retirement, San Diego or bust! Actually, having to
make this gawd-awful long trip is killing me, right at the absolute WORST
possible time, height of Spring migration and LHG 'mojo' going full tilt since
Oct 1, ...so totally bums me out :-(( Now, a 3-4 week hiatus I suppose;
it's hard to say what state my LHG 'mojo' might be in a month from now.


The LHG Birdathon summary and May summary totals follow and the number of
days a species was recorded follows the species name which can also be
interpreted as how many "pennies" each was worth.





total days & walks -- 16
cumulative walk time -- 37.6 hrs
average walk time -- 2.4 hrs
cumulative species 'units' -- 777 (Bird-A-Thon value: $7.77)
average species / walk -- 48.6 (high: 56 on 01May & 03 May, low: 37 on
13May)


total species = 88 (Bird-A-Thon value: $88.00) (+2 known misses --
worthless, don't count!)


Canada Goose -- 14
Wood Duck -- 11
Gadwall -- 1
Mallard -- 16
Northern Shoveler -- 1
Bufflehead -- 16
Ring-necked Duck -- 12
Greater Scaup -- 7
Lesser Scaup -- 8
Hooded Merganser -- 1
Common Merganser -- 1
Ruddy Duck -- 1
California Quail -- 7
Double-crested Cormorant -- 4
Great Blue Heron -- 13
Osprey -- 1
Bald Eagle -- 4
Cooper's Hawk -- 8
Red-tailed Hawk -- 14
Merlin -- 3
Virginia Rail -- 1
American Coot -- 23
Killdeer -- 11
Spotted Sandpiper -- 1
Least Sandpiper -- 1
Wilson's Snipe -- 5
Glaucous-winged Gull -- 6
Rock Pigeon -- 11
Band-tailed Pigeon -- 15
Barn Owl -- 7
Vaux's Swift -- 3
Anna's Hummingbird -- 16
Rufous Hummingbird -- 11
Red-breasted Sapsucker -- 2
Downy Woodpecker -- 16
Northern (R-s) Flicker -- 16
Pileated Woodpecker -- 8
Western Wood-Pewee -- 6
Hammond's Flycatcher -- 2
Pacific-slope Flycatcher -- 1
.....[Dusky Flycatcher ??] -- 1 (**see note 2 below**)
.....unid. Empidonax -- 3 (count only as a 'species unit' when no other
Empidonax was identified)
Cassin's Vireo -- 1
Hutton's Vireo -- 5
Warbling Vireo -- 13
Steller's Jay -- 12
American Crow -- 16
Tree Swallow -- 12
Violet-green Swallow -- 15
.....[N. Rough-winged Swallow] -- (miss, 08May, Hugh Jennings, no points)
Barn Swallow -- 16
Black-capped Chickadee -- 16
Chestnut-backed Chickadee -- 11
Bushtit -- 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch -- 15
Brown Creeper -- 3
Bewick's Wren -- 16
Pacific Wren -- 1 (**see note 1 below**)
Marsh Wren -- 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet -- 3
Swainson's Thrush -- 5
Hermit Thrush -- 7
American Robin -- 16
European Starling -- 16
American Pipit -- 4
Cedar Waxwing -- 7
Orange-crowned Warbler -- 10
Nashville Warbler -- 3
Yellow Warbler -- 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler -- 7 (incl. 'myrtle' on 4 days, no points)
Black-throated Gray Warbler -- 1
Townsend's Warbler -- 1
Wilson's Warbler -- 14
Common Yellowthroat -- 14
Spotted Towhee -- 16
Savannah Sparrow -- 16
Fox Sparrow -- 1
Song Sparrow -- 16
White-crowned Sparrow -- 11
Golden-crowned Sparrow -- 8
Dark-eyed Junco -- 15
Western Tanager -- 12
Black-headed Grosbeak -- 12
.....[Lazuli Bunting] -- (miss, 15May report on 'tweeters', no points)
Red-winged Blackbird -- 16
Brown-headed Cowbird -- 16
Purple Finch -- 16
House Finch -- 16
Red Crossbill -- 10
Pine Siskin -- 16 (unbroken streak continues, 187 for 187 since Oct 1)
American Goldfinch -- 16
Evening Grosbeak -- 9
House Sparrow -- 3



Total pledge amount for this weird LHG Birdathon:
88 species + 777 species units = $95.77


Should anyone care to match it, you can always contribute that amount,
exactly, not a penny more, directly to:
Eastside Audubon
P.O. Box 3115
Kirkland, WA 98083-3115


Fearing entering borderline Tweeters violations of TOS territory, I am not
asking for, just suggesting, in case anyone out there who hasn't yet
boarded one of these annual conservation and education fund raising band wagons,
or gotten enough already for the ones you've already done or contributed
to.


**note 1** Pacific Wren was a toughie this month with only one positive
record although I suspect I was hearing them every morning. The problem was
I couldn't isolate and filter out the Pacific Wren's now very short and
softer bursts of song this time of year amidst the deafening din of
everything else sounding off in that one Pacific Wren spot along 156th SE. The
worst offenders, not to mention the 156th Ave morning traffic, were not just
the Robins, but worse, all the Pine Siskins and House Finches that when both
combined together sound a lot like a Pacific Wren embedded in there
somewhere.


**note 2** -- About that maybe [Dusky Flycatcher??] ... If rejected which
it probably will have to be, I want that penny back btw!!! Just leave it
on the Phantom Lake observation dock somewhere; I'll pick it up next month
some time. I already had a bunch of Hammond's on that busy Empid day
(01May), which otherwise cancels out any and all other simple hanging unid.
Empids unless there is some compelling reason to consider otherwise as was with
this, one and one only, constant tail-pumper, behavior which may be fairly
diagnostic for Dusky(?), thus for now worth a most generous 1-penny wee
'unit' with potential for adding a dollar. If not just a silent Hammond's, it
definitely was not any of the other lowland types, especially
Pacific-slope or Willow, and definitely NOT Gray nor Least either. I just don't have
much expertise not to mention self confidence with Dusky Flycatcher, and
certainly not outside their usual haunts in the mountains and slopes to the
east.



Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA
Pterodroma AT aol.com