Hello everyone,
We had all the summer weather this morning. Sun, light rain, hard rain, and clouds. And lots of humidity. But we are hardy birders and we handled it just fine.
The kids were active today. There were a lot of robins around, many of which were cute spotted juveniles, some with fuzz still on the tops of their heads. We had 3 juvenile Green Herons flying back and forth between a couple trees. There must have been a well-hidden nest close by – we never found one in the spring. The Wood Duck ducklings are getting big and enjoying swimming between the lily pads in the Columbia Basin. The mama Mallard and her quickly growing babies were neatly lined up in a row on a log in the lagoon.
Our White-eyed Vireos are still around (even though Merlin and eBird don’t believe it) and Eric was lucky enough to get a photo of one of the elusive birds. Warbling Vireos were singing away again now that their chicks have presumably grown up and gone out on their own.
A group of Northern Flickers were at the top of the big dead tree along the shore of the lagoon. An aggressive Starling chased them off but they came back after a short time. Osaka was snoozing peacefully in its usual spot in the Japanese Garden.
BIRDERS: Luther, Kristin, Mark C., Suzanne, Cheryl, Jennie, Mike, Marian, Mark W., Shannon, Madhu, Roger, Eric, Tracy, Jen, Pam, Jan, Marisa, Katie, Traci and welcome to Sarah and Brian.
TIME: 8:00am to 11:30am
WEATHER: Low 70s, cloudy, then sunny, then rain, then sunny, then more rain, then sunny again.
Compiler: Cheryl
Canada Goose Number observed: 132
Wood Duck Number observed: 10
Mallard Number observed: 14
Mourning Dove Number observed: 2
Chimney Swift Number observed: 4
Killdeer Number observed: 1
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 7
American Herring Gull Number observed: 1
Caspian Tern Number observed: 3
Double-crested Cormorant Number observed: 3
Black-crowned Night Heron Number observed: 2
Green Heron Number observed: 3
Great Egret Number observed: 1
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 5
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 2
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 2
Northern Flicker Number observed: 4
Eastern Wood-Pewee Number observed: 1
Willow Flycatcher Number observed: 2
Eastern Kingbird Number observed: 4
White-eyed Vireo Number observed: 1
Warbling Vireo Number observed: 4
American Crow Number observed: 2
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 4
Purple Martin Number observed: 15
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Number observed: 1
Barn Swallow Number observed: 11
Cliff Swallow Number observed: 3
White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Number observed: 1
Northern House Wren Number observed: 3
European Starling Number observed: 40
Gray Catbird Number observed: 3
Eastern Bluebird Number observed: 1
American Robin Number observed: 28
Cedar Waxwing Number observed: 5
House Sparrow Number observed: 4
American Goldfinch Number observed: 7
Chipping Sparrow Number observed: 1
Song Sparrow Number observed: 6
Orchard Oriole Number observed: 2
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 14
Brown-headed Cowbird Number observed: 8
Yellow Warbler Number observed: 5
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 6
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
Photo: White-eyed vireo by Megumi Aita