Subject: [Tweeters] Black Phoebe, Hogum Bay Rd. Thurston County
Date: Mar 11 10:03:22 2014
From: David Grenier - trek_rider at live.com


I'd often wondered if there were two Black Phoebes at the site, possibly a breeding pair, but whenever I read of sightings there was never a mention of more than one, and although I've seen the phoebe regularly there over the months, had never seen more than one. Yesterday I spotted two, both in the same field of view in my binoculars. I was observing one in a tree and noticed motion farther away in the same field of view. I re-focused and found I was looking at another BP. Of course, I couldn't tell if they were a male/female pair, but now I know they have each other's company. BTW, I almost always spot the phoebe(s) in the small trees and brush that runs between the two eastern ponds, or along the W edge of those ponds.


Also on the day before (Sunday) spotted my first Townsend's Warbler of the year, in evergreen trees on the N side of the western most pond. It was hawking along with a large number of Kinglets (RC and GC), Chickadees (BC and CB), and Juncos. Sunday and yesterday a number of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Audubon's) were hawking, along with some RC Kinglets, from the brush on the E side of the same pond. (Quite a lot of hawking was going on Monday too. The flying bugs must be out in force.)


Sunday a Bald Eagle was on the nest (one of the tall trees between the W pond and the ponds to the east of it. Didn't see any eagles on Monday.


Yesterday I saw some ducks performing military maneuvers. I watched seven male Ring-necked Ducks come out of concealment at one end of a pond. They swam out a few yards, then formed a straight line-abreast (side-by-side) formation and stopped dead. A few seconds later, about 20 other ducks emerged, mostly Am. Wigeons along with the few male Ring-necks and the females of same. The "screen" waited for the flotilla to catch up to them, then they moved out, maintaining the screen in front. They swam like this for some distance before finally losing their formation. I've never seen anything like that before! They looked like a screen of destroyers deployed in front of a fleet.