Photo credit: Gary Rasmussen
Hello everyone,
It was a lovely late summer morning with plenty of family groups and a noticeable lull in birdsong. It’s funny how quiet our birds get when they’re no longer looking for a mate.
We were greeted by a nice Wood Duck family in the Columbia Basin. Mom and babies were peacefully paddling around among the water lilies. We found a Mallard family in the same area at the end of the walk so apparently all the ducks really like that area. A Cedar Waxwing family was perched in a dead tree with two adults dutifully feeding four fledglings. Adult Purple Martins were watching over their fledglings on trees and on their houses.
The mulberry tree in the old rose garden once again was a great buffet for the birds with lots of Robins, both adults and juveniles, as well as House Finches and Catbirds. We had a lot of Great Blue Herons, with many juveniles. The young ones acted like typical kids with lots of energy and were flying about all over the place. Green Herons were well represented too, and we had the heron trifecta plus Great Egret, a fan favorite.
It was a good raptor day with Red-tailed, Red-shouldered and Cooper’s Hawks all present. A butterfly landed on Caterina’s hat. I guess she looked like a flower!
BIRDERS: Kristin, Rebecca, Jeffrey, Marian, Cheryl, Mike, Jennie, Jane, Gary, Mark W., Mark N., Mark C., Suzanne, Leslie, Roger, Curt, Madhu, Val, Robert, Simone, Caterina, Sarah, Amir, Traci, Marisa, Stephan, Ezra, Jeff, Larry, Renate, and welcome to Mark D, Sandy, Lurene, Maggie, Ryan, Liz, Evelyn, Sharon, Orly, Adithi and Rahul.
TIME: 8:00am to 12:00pm
WEATHER: 63 degrees, sunny
Compiler: Cheryl
Canada Goose Number observed: 22
Wood Duck Number observed: 11
Mallard Number observed: 9
Mourning Dove Number observed: 1
Chimney Swift Number observed: 10
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Number observed: 4
Spotted Sandpiper Number observed: 2
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 12
American Herring Gull Number observed: 5
Caspian Tern Number observed: 3
Double-crested Cormorant Number observed: 5
Black-crowned Night Heron Number observed: 2
Green Heron Number observed: 4
Great Egret Number observed: 2
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 8
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 4
Red-shouldered Hawk Number observed: 1
Red-tailed Hawk Number observed: 1
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 3
Northern Flicker Number observed: 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee Number observed: 1
Empidonax sp. Number observed: 1
Eastern Phoebe Number observed: 1
Eastern Kingbird Number observed: 8
Eastern Warbling Vireo Number observed: 4
Red-eyed Vireo Number observed: 1
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 1
Tree Swallow Number observed: 2
Purple Martin Number observed: 107
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Number observed: 6
Barn Swallow Number observed: 12
Cliff Swallow Number observed: 3
White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Number observed: 5
Northern House Wren Number observed: 7
European Starling Number observed: 137
Gray Catbird Number observed: 8
American Robin Number observed: 41
Cedar Waxwing Number observed: 10
House Sparrow Number observed: 2
House Finch Number observed: 5
American Goldfinch Number observed: 15
Chipping Sparrow Number observed: 1
Song Sparrow Number observed: 7
Baltimore Oriole Number observed: 2
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 9
Common Grackle Number observed: 4
Common Yellowthroat Number observed: 2
Northern Yellow Warbler Number observed: 5
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 8
Indigo Bunting Number observed: 1
If you’d like more information about a bird, check out the All About Birds ID guide:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/
Corrections, additions, and comments are welcome.
Good birding everyone,
Jennie