Hello everyone,
Phew, was it hot. I think the birds felt it too because they were pretty quiet and were not out and about as much as usual. However, we had a lot of butterflies and other insects to entertain us.
We didn’t see Osaka when we went through the Japanese Garden but we saw it from the Music Bridge so we were happy to see it on its post. We had three very hard to spot Spotted Sandpipers walking on the lily pads in the Columbia Basin. We saw two Hummingbirds and a nice large flock of Cedar Waxwings, both nice summer sightings.
There was a large flock of Purple Martins flying around and we wondered if they are staging to begin their southward migration. It will be interesting to see how many are present next week. On the flip side, however, Marisa spotted swallow nestlings, Barn Swallow I believe, under the bridge. It seems a bit late but perhaps the swallows are so happy here that they decided to have a second brood.
BIRDERS: Howard, Jeff, Pam, Rick, Mike, Luther, Mark C., Leslie, Suzanne, Marian, Gary, Roger, Val, Jennie, Paul, Lucy, Robert, Simone, Marisa, Jan, Pat, Sanjeev, Larry, Mark W., and welcome to Domonique, Sarah, Amir, and Kenny.
TIME: 8:00am to 11:30am
WEATHER: 76 degrees and rising quickly, sunny, hot, and humid.
Compiler: Cheryl
Canada Goose Number observed: 53
Wood Duck Number observed: 4
Mallard Number observed: 11
Chimney Swift Number observed: 40
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Number observed: 2
Spotted Sandpiper Number observed: 3
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 3
Double-crested Cormorant Number observed: 2
Black-crowned Night Heron Number observed: 1
Green Heron Number observed: 6
Great Egret Number observed: 4
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 4
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 1
Red-tailed Hawk Number observed: 1
Northern Flicker Number observed: 1
Eastern Kingbird Number observed: 4
White-eyed Vireo Number observed: 1
Warbling Vireo Number observed: 4
American Crow Number observed: 4
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 2
Purple Martin Number observed: 55
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Number observed: 1
Barn Swallow Number observed: 11
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Number observed: 2
Northern House Wren Number observed: 1
European Starling Number observed: 15
Gray Catbird Number observed: 7
Brown Thrasher Number observed: 1
American Robin Number observed: 11
Cedar Waxwing Number observed: 15
House Sparrow Number observed: 1
American Goldfinch Number observed: 11
Song Sparrow Number observed: 4
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 2
Common Grackle Number observed: 2
Yellow Warbler Number observed: 3
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 4
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: Pied-billed grebe by Bryan Keil