Hey Tweeters,



I have started visiting Fairhaven Park up here in Bellingham for the past
couple months when I get a break from college. I have gotten and taken this
patch as my own since mid November when my friend Josh Glant and I decided
to try weekly patch competitions. Even though these areas might not be
premier birding spots they are still nice to have a look around and maybe
find a bird that can be considered rare for the patch. The area is mostly
mixed forest but has small pockets of relatively good riparian forest and a
large area of your run of the mill douglas fir/western red cedar forest. I
have found that the area is extremely birdy around sunrise which is the
time I got there tis morning.



Today started off very well with fairly warm temperatures and almost no
wind. Had a lot of activity with songbirds as I usually do. Highlights
included:



Green Heron- One bird heard calling from wooded wetland next to interurban
trail. First for park

Cooper?s Hawk- My first seen here. Diving and then soaring high above

Woodpecker?s ? All five expected species seen

Hutton?s Vireo ? Had 6 individuals singing in different areas

Brown Creeper ? 6 birds singing. Using different habitats from
cottonwood/maple to fir/cedar.

Fox Sparrow ? 4 all together. This area has been notoriously bad for
sparrows not named song, towhee or junco so it?s a big deal for here.

Purple Finch ? 3 singing birds. One that was seen was immature male.



So in total I had 36 species for the morning. Almost all birds singing
especially Varied Thrush and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. An interesting
situation I have at this local park is that all of the expected finches
have been seen/heard except for House Finch even though the park is in a
suburban area. Also, the relative lack of sparrows has been confusing as
there are ample areas of bushes with blackberries intertwined. Looking
forward to Rufous Hummingbirds and Swallows returning within the next few
weeks and who knows I might get lucky and find the very rare House Finch .
Heron, Cooper?s Hawk, and Purple Finch all new for patch which brings total
up to 49 species.



Ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27980670

Ebird Hotspot: http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L4009704?yr=all&m=&rank=mrec



Have a good day,



Adam Crutcher
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