Despite the incessant rain, made my way to the park this morning with low expectations. At least the temps were mild since the breeze could have made it worse. Periods of mizzle, drizzle and outright rain all morning, with just a couple of peaks of blue. Still, there was enough action to make it a profitable day after all. And, the wetness kept the dog walker crowd to an unusually small number. A few notables follow.
Cackling Goose - immediately upon arriving and exiting the car, a flock of close to 100 noisy cacklers flew, not that high, in an easterly direction toward the lake
Canvasback - a pair off the north shore; first of fall
Scaup - and handful of both species, near the swim beach and at the north shore; first of fall for Lesser
American Coot - several hundred; sometimes this flock is off Matthews Beach, sometimes even farther north; today is was at the swim beach
Herring Gull - 1 on the swim platform; first of fall
Northern Harrier - cruising slow, southward, just a hundred feet above the meadows; one or two sightings in the fall over the last 4 years, so right on cue; first of year
Bald Eagle - 2 or 3 adults; in late morning, one was flying low over the meadows with prey: an American Coot
Hermit Thrush - a couple; in one of the breaks in the rain, a horde of birds descended on one of the larger hawthorns in the meadows, including Am Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Spotted Towhee, GC Sparrow and a Hermit Thrush. Don't know if it had been feeding as well, but the Hermit flew up to a perch and just hung out for a while with birds all around; maybe it was just posing for today's video: https://youtu.be/sKjtway8y80
For the day, 52 species; with NOHA new, 126 species for the year.
Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49626640
Scott Ramos
Seattle


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