Tweeters,

Gorgeous day Thursday at JBLM's Eagles Pride Golf Course: started out at a brrrrr 29degF and ended about 49degF, with no perceptual wind and just a few clouds. Highlights of the 39 species tallied today were impressive to the 15 of us that walked the route: Our first-ever NORTHERN HARRIER (spotted behind us by Jay S. at Hodge Lake -- while most of us were counting the ducks, he turned around at saw it). Given that the golf course is mostly forested (including some very large Douglas-firs), with narrow fairways, this was a very unexpected species. Jay first saw the bird over the trees, but no one else saw it. Then, as we came out of the wooded area between a couple of the holes, all of us got great views of this female harrier gliding quite high up over the "Green" course 4th hole trees and fairway. Jon A. and a couple of others ID'd and got scopes on a got a pair of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS at the top of a Douglas-fir across from the driving range tee set. Two years ago, a pair used a nest box in an oak next to the 18th fairway, so we're hoping for that same occurrence. At the end of our walk, Kathleen S. spotted a TURKEY VULTURE flying in the distance over the course. As we got locked on to that bird, another Turkey Vulture showed up. Our first swallow of the season, a lone TREE SWALLOW was at Hodge Lake. Five "singing" HUTTON'S VIREOS (various locations around the course) and five BAND-TAILED PIGEONS (FOY). Two RED-TAILED HAWKS perched next to each other near Hodge Lake might portend a nearby nest.


For this forested area about a mile from Billy Frank, Jr., Nisqually NWR, we now have tallied 104 species since we started 5 years ago.

The JBLM Eagles Pride GC birders meet the third Thursday of each month at 8:00AM. Starting point is Bldg # 1514, Driving Range Tee, Eagles Pride Golf Course, I-5 Exit 116, Mounts Road Exit. Upcoming walks for 2018 include the following:
• April 19
• May 17
• June 21 (Summer Solstice)
• July 19
• August 16
• September 20
• October 18
• November 15
• December 20
Anyone is welcome to join us!
38 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose 5
Mallard 4
Ring-necked Duck 10
Bufflehead 21
Turkey Vulture 2
Northern Harrier 1 A first for the JBLM monthly bird walk!
Red-tailed Hawk 2 A pair near Hodge Lake
Band-tailed Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 3
Anna's Hummingbird 3
Downy Woodpecker (Pacific) 1
Northern Flicker 12
Hutton's Vireo 5
Steller's Jay 14
California Scrub-Jay 3
American/Northwestern Crow 11
Tree Swallow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 14
Bushtit (Pacific) 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
Brown Creeper 3
Pacific Wren 9
Bewick's Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Western Bluebird 2
American Robin 70
Varied Thrush 2
European Starling 8
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 5
Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 21
Golden-crowned Sparrow 4
Song Sparrow 6
Spotted Towhee (oregonus Group) 7
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Purple Finch (Western) 2
Pine Siskin 2


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43700846


May all your birds be identified,

Denis DeSilvis

avnacrs4birds at outlook.com



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20180316/6c8e797f/attachment.html>