Photo: American goldfinch by Will Stuart

Hello everyone,

Our Bald Eagle is back! We were all very excited to see our friend back in their spot at the top of a tree, surveying the area. We’re going to have to figure out how to identify each individual eagle so we can determine if we’re seeing the same bird or different birds throughout the year.

A muskrat was swimming in the Columbia Basin. The trees and bushes in the Japanese Garden have buds, most notably the pink dogwood tree.

Our waterfowl was present and abundant, and we had the Merganser trifecta again. At the end of the walk we were treated to a flyover Peregrine Falcon making its way quickly to the north.

Many thanks to Eric for sending a link to a very useful article that describes how to tell the difference between a muskrat and beaver as they’re swimming: https://fpdcc.com/a-case-of-mistaken-identity-beaver-or-muskrat/

BIRDERS: Leslie, Suzanne, Val, Daniela, Mark C., Marian, Luther, Mike, Jennie, Jen, Jeffrey, Caterina, Katie, Madhu, Eric, Nolan, Marisa, Jane, Mark W., Renate, Andy and welcome to Becca, Adam, Sofia, Elowen and Jessica.

TIME: 8:00am to 10:20am

WEATHER: 37 degrees, mostly sunny

Compiler: Mike

1.      Canada Goose Number observed: 26

2.      Mallard Number observed: 22

3.      Common Goldeneye Number observed: 3

4.      Hooded Merganser Number observed: 3

5.      Common Merganser Number observed: 3

6.      Red-breasted Merganser Number observed: 59

7.      Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 5

8.      American Herring Gull Number observed: 9

9.      Bald Eagle Number observed: 1

10.   Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 2

11.   Northern Flicker Number observed: 1

12.   Peregrine Falcon Number observed: 1

13.   American Crow Number observed: 20

14.   Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 6

15.   Brown Creeper Number observed: 2

16.   European Starling Number observed: 3

17.   American Robin Number observed: 5

18.   House Sparrow Number observed: 3

19.   House Finch Number observed: 1

20.   Dark-eyed Junco Number observed: 1

21.   Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 20

22.   Brown-headed Cowbird Number observed: 1

23.   Northern Cardinal Number observed: 3

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