Weather: Cloudy and cool in the morning. Around noon, the sun came out and it warmed up into the 60s. Turned out to be a beautiful day.
Map of Union Bay for Reference: CLICK HERE
Species count was 42: Eurasion Wigeon, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Robin, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadee, Brown Creeper, American Goldfinch, Tree Swallow, Double-crested Cormorant, Bushtit, Virginia Rail, Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, American Coot, Bald Eagle, Cooper's Hawk, American Crow, Steller's Jay, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Bufflehead, Pied-billed Grebe, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Pacific Wren, Bewick's Wren, Marsh Wren, Northern Flicker, Song Sparrow, Anna's Hummingbird, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, European Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Gadwall, GBH, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red-breasted Merganser, Downy Woodpecker, Feral Pigeon.
New Arrivals: Eurasian Wigeon.
Notes from the day:
I finally saw my first Eurasion Wigeon today and I wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't for the plant sale taking place at the Center for Urban Horticulture. The CUH parking lot was completely full and there was a line of cars waiting to park, so I parked down the block near the Talaris Conference Center across the street. As I exited the car, I noticed a reddish head amongst a flock of American wigeons out on the conference center's central pond. I quickly pulled out my binoculars and verified that it was in fact a Eurasian Wigeon. It was intermingling amongst a flock of over 100 American Wigeons. Here is a picture of him:
It appears that the golden-crowned kinglets haven't disappeared after all. I thought they may have moved on from the Yesler swamp area since I haven't seen or heard them in the area for the last couple of weeks. They were present in fairly large numbers in the upper canopy near the swamp and for the first time all year, I heard them singing! It had been mostly their dainty chipping calls throughout the winter. I wonder if they're getting ready to breed? Anyway, it was good to see them again. I've really gotten to know this species pretty well over the winter since they spent a lot of their time feeding near the ground. Now that they've moved high again, I'll just have to admire them from afar I guess.
I also encountered my first flock of bushtits of the day near the swamp. They moved through the area rather quickly (as usual), followed by one of the resident downy woodpeckers. I know there's a mating pair in this area, they've just been a little scarce the past few weeks. Or maybe I haven't looked hard enough? Anyway, it was good to see one of them again. I was actually fortunate to have been graced by bushtit flocks multiple times throughout the day. Aside from the crows and starlings, I probably didn't see more of any other bird today than the bushtits. Here is pic of one of them along the fence line trail in Yester Cove.
By the time I finally made my way over into the Cove, it was hopping with activity. A red-breasted merganser casually floated in the center while it was accompanied by groups of gadwalls, mallards, wigeons, shovelers, ring-necked ducks and green-winged teals. There were large numbers of all of them except for the ring-necks. I had never seen the cove this crowded before. I found out later in the day that most of the sunning spots throughout Union Bay were flooded over, including the island in the lagoon (which is usually a really popular hang out spot). The cove was probably one of their only options and that's where they all happened to congregate today. Even the eagles took notice and hovered over the area multiple times throughout the day. The wigeons would all swim for cover near the shore while the mallards and gadwalls continued to either casually swim, bathe or nap. This is the second week in a row that I've witnessed the wigeons being the first and only species to react to an alarm while the other species in the area went about business as usual. I'm starting to think that they may be more skittish than the rest.
As I moved out of the cove into the meadow near the stained glass booth, I was greeted by my first house finch of the year in Union Bay. I've seen quite a few this year in both my home in Snohomish County and on campus, but this was the first one here. He even took a moment to sing me a really beautiful song before he ducked back into the thicket.
As I headed over to check out Wedding Rock, I heard and saw hundreds of crows cawing on all sides of Shoveler's Pond, so I turned and headed in that direction to investigate. The trees were full of them and along the shore, almost as many were having a drink and/or taking a bath. It was the most crows that I've ever seen here at Union Bay (and for those of you that know this area, there is usually too many to count to begin with). And funny enough, a mating pair of shovelers fed while they swam in a circular pattern together. It was almost as if they were putting on a performance for the crows.
This week I only saw one lone tree swallow perched high up above the Southwest Pond along the southern shore. He let me observe directly below him for a few minutes before he took flight to catch insects out over the meadow. Last week I saw 5 or 6 in the same area. Not sure if they moved on or if I just wasn't in the right place at the right time this week to see the rest. Here is a pic of the swallow that I did see:
The pied-billed grebes weren't paired up again this week like they were the last. In fact, I only saw four all day long. I watched one actually catch a fish over near the Shell House and the other 3 were all hanging out together near where Yesler Cove opens up into the lake. Maybe they weren't getting ready to mate afterall? I'll continue to observe their behaviors next week.
The ruby-crowned kinglet males were flaunting their red crowns for the first time this year. I've seen them almost every week for over a month and this was the first time I've seen them with their flashy crowns. They were intermingling with the bushtits on the west end of the cove along the fence. They're probably getting ready to mate as well.
I had an opportunity to witness multiple species of birds bathing today. I think it's because we've gotten so much rain that puddles have formed almost everywhere in the area. A good number of the puddles were either on or near cover and the birds took advantage of it. I think I counted 5 different species taking a dip. Here is a pic of a group of starlings bathing in the Dime Lot.
When I approached the turtle logs in the morning, I noticed there didn't seem to be a bird anywhere on the entire lake. The water was really choppy and a lot of the birds seemed to be congregating both in the ponds and newly created puddle lakes all throughout Union Bay. When the sun came out in the afternoon, the birds returned to Lake Washington in the center of the Bay as they usually do. The eagles soared high above them and this time there were three. One was an adult but the others were too far away to distinguish. I believe at least one was a juvenile since I saw it hovering above the cove earlier in the day.
When I walked down into the marshy area east of Douglas Road, all of the crows which I had seen earlier near Shoveler's Pond had congregated in the trees above my head. This time, a group of starlings of equal numbers flew in to join them and it was annoying loud. The last time I saw this many starlings and crows in one small area exhibiting this type of behavior, a Cooper's flew past and both species began to mob the accipiter. Maybe there was a raptor in the area? I looked pretty hard but wasn't able to detect anything.
Last week I heard my first Virginia rail calls. This week, I heard them in three different areas throughout the Bay. One was on the northwest shoreline of Yesler Cove. The other was by the Reading Rocks and the third was over on the Southwest Pond (where I heard them last week). Two of the three encounters were pairs of rails calling back and forth to one another. I'm not sure if that's a courtship behavior or it's two males being territorial. The reason I say so is that one of the pairs was performing a grunt display call. I'll research this more before next week.
I thought the GBHs were getting ready to nest because the large gatherings that became a regularity earlier in the year ceased during the last couple of weeks. Well today they were back congregating along the shore near the Conibear Mitigation again. There were 16 of them in total along a 40 yard stretch of shoreline. Another birder who was admiring the sight along with me said that he once saw 23 of them gathered along a similar sized stretch of shore last year. Here is a picture of a few of them:
My wish coming into today was to see a Cooper's hawk. Well my wish was granted while I was observing the yellow-rumped warblers on the north end of the Southwest Pond. It flew low over the pond coming from the south and used the deciduous stand as cover while it sharply turned east to surprise the starlings gathered on the ground in the meadow to the east. I saw the hawk swoop towards the ground but I wasn't able to tell if the hunt was successful. It was a pretty sneaky maneuver overall by the Cooper's. Usually when I see them at Union Bay, so do the crows. This time, the crows didn't see it coming at all.
It was a great day overall and I'm looking forward to see what behaviors and new arrivals I'll experience next week. Until then.
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