Subject: [Tweeters] Some nice King County birds
Date: Thu Jan 2 15:21:47 PST 2020
From: Lonnie Somer - mombiwheeler at gmail.com

Hi Tweeters,

I headed out to Flaming Geyser SP this morning before the rain began. I
was hoping to spot an A. DIPPER under the main entrance bridge, which is
usually a reliable spot for this species. The Green River was extremely
high and wild, and, not surprisingly, I had no luck there. There were very
few species about as I worked my way to the end of the park road. When I
walked to the not-so-flaming geyser, I found a dipper in the nearby creek!
It flew down to the other side of the bridge and began to hunt for food in
the water. I watched it for several minutes as it submerged itself and
came up with tasty invertebrates several times. It also broke into song a
couple of times, which is always wonderful to hear.
After a brief interlude at work (booo!), I tried my luck with the Black
Phoebe that had been spotted in the horse pond along 204th St in Kent. By
now, the rain had started. The pond was loaded with wigeon, including 3
EURASIAN WIGEONS as well as a number of GREEN-WINGED TEAL. In lieu of the
phoebe, there was a very large RED-TAILED HAWK siting on a tree stump by
the edge of the pond, just a few feet off of the ground. It flew away
after a few minutes, to be almost immediately replaced by an A. KESTREL,
which landed on the just vacated spot. There was also a COOPER'S HAWK
perched in a nearby tree. I began to understand why there was no phoebe
about.
My last stop was at the 212th St. ponds, also in Kent. This time, I was
hoping for the Cinnamon Teals that had been reported there. No luck with
those and the rain was really coming down by now. As I finished circling
the main pond and was about to head back to my car, I heard a chirping call
coming from the pond's south end. It was being made by a BLACK PHOEBE,
which was actively hawking from branches that were overhanging the pond.

Good birding,

Lonnie Somer
Seattle
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