Weather: Sunny and beautiful. I believe it got up to 60 and I really couldn't have asked for a better day.
Map of Union Bay for Reference: CLICK HERE
Species count was 40: White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Robin, Spotted Towhee, 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, Red-tailed 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, Fox Sparrow, Anna's Hummingbird, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, European Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Belted Kingfisher, Gadwall, GBH.
New Arrivals: American Goldfinch, Tree Swallow, White-crowned Sparrow, Bushtit
Notes from the day:
No less than a few minutes into my walk down the trail to Yesler Swamp, I was greeted by close to 10 different species. It was the first time this year that I've seen either a white-crowned sparrow or a brown creeper so it was a surprising start to the day. The last few times I've seen creepers, they've been tagging along with flocks of black-capped chickadees or golden-crowned kinglets. This time it was was all by itself.
Yesler Cove was really quiet this morning. Aside from a few gadwalls and green-winged teals, nothing else was on the water. Except for the turtles, they were out sunning on every available log. There must have been close to 50 of them throughout the cove.
The teals were alarmed by something and took off in a hurry out onto the lake. The funny thing is that the gadwalls didn't seem to be concerned at all. They just went about business as usual. If they would have taken flight along with the teals, I probably would have been more inclined to investigate the cause of the alarm. I had been standing completely still observing them for some time before the teals took flight so the alarm probably wasn't caused by me.
As I moved along the fence line trail at Yesler Cove, I noticed the Steller's jays were unusually quiet. They've been obnoxiously loud over the course of the last month, so it was kind of strange. As I moved closer to investigate, two crows came from the direction of the greenhouses and began to mob a red-tailed hawk. They repeatedly dive-bombed it until it took flight and escorted it out of the area towards the lake. I came back to the same spot in the afternoon and the Jays were obnoxiously loud once again. It makes me wonder why the crows aren't afraid to mob the hawk but the jays are, being they're both corvids. I think maybe Steller's jay was on the menu for the hawk sometime in the not so recent past. What do you think?
As I exited Yesler Cove into the meadow, I was greeted by song in almost every direction. I walked towards the Stained Glass Booth and I was greeted by flocks of both yellow-rumped warblers and bushtits moving through the mid to lower canopy. The bushtits passed through the area in a large flock and were gone before I knew it. They were feeding on insects in the catkins while the warblers would take off from their perches to catch insects on the wing. Even though the encounter was brief, it was nice to see the bushtits for the first time in awhile. Here is a photo of one of the warblers that got within 5 feet of me.
The Anna's hummingbirds were all over the place today. I saw my buddy that's always at the same tree, no matter the weather, near Wedding Rock. They looked much greener today than they usually do. I'm sure it had something to do with better lighting, but I think the males are getting closer to breeding. They were chasing each other everywhere today. While they display that behavior rather frequently, they seemed to be more territorial than usual.
Shoveler's Pond was empty as usual. Maybe it's too deep for the dabblers and not deep enough for the divers? It's the only large watering area in Union Bay that doesn't have waterfowl on it at the moment. And it hasn't had any now for some time.
I was able to photograph my first belted kingfisher today! I've been trying to do so for over a year now and have been wildly unsuccessful. He let me watch him hunt before he flew off over to the lagoon, which is where I'm pretty sure he lives. I saw him over there a few weeks ago.
I was also able to see my first tree swallow of the year. I had heard on Tweeters that they had been seen down in Nisqually earlier in the week and was hoping they would make it this far north for my visit today. I probably only saw 5 or 6 of them feeding about 20 feet up in the air over the meadow near Southwest Pond.
As I was watching the swallows, the mating pair of eagles flew over the north end of the lagoon towards campus and the cormorants all took off flying towards the lake. Maybe the eagles have had cormorant on their menu in the recent past? I found it odd how that they fled the area but all of the other ducks and coots remained on the water in the lagoon. My guess is that they're slower in flight and are an easier target. Jon Young told a story of how he witnessed a bald eagle kill a GBH during a sit that he was doing so I wouldn't be surprised if they occasionally dined on cormorant.
Southwest pond was pretty active today. I saw my first two American goldfinches of the year on the northern side and in the southwest corner I heard my first Virginia rail! I waited forever to see it but it never made an appearance. There were actually two of them and they'd occasionally call to one another, but both always stayed in cover. At least I got to hear one for the first time.
The GBHs weren't gathered along Canoe Island any more in a rookery. Maybe they're getting ready to mate? The males build the nest so one of these days (maybe next week?) I'll get to see them carrying nest building materials. I only saw one today hunting along the water's edge in the lagoon. It was probably the least amount of GBHs that I've ever seen here.
One of the coolest things that I saw today were the eagles hunting over the lake. My friend Fil informed me this week that they prefer to hunt during sunny days because the warm air creates thermal masses that allow them to soar over the lake. Eagles sometimes need to be in the air for long periods of time while hunting and to do so without the thermal masses would take a tremendous amount of energy. To date, practically all of my best eagle encounters occurred on sunny days.
I also have a theory that the eagles sometimes time their lake hunts with the boats that move across the center of the lake. You see the ducks and coots all congregate in large flocks in the center. On calm days whenever a boat comes in, they all scatter to the shore. I doubt it's because they're afraid of the boats. The boats travel through the areas in which they congregate and split them up. The eagles must know this and swoop down to scatter them even more when they're disoriented. I saw the birds scatter a few times as the boats passed through but didn't see any eagles. They probably all expect the eagles to come and take cover regardless. Next week, I am going to look out for this behavior specifically.
So far this year, every pie-billed grebe that I've ever seen at Union Bay has been swimming/diving solo. Most of the time they intermingle with a variety of different species. But today, they were pairing up. I've never witnessed a courtship dance of a grebe and I'm hoping I'll get to do so next week.
Overall, it was the best day I've ever had at Union Bay. The only thing that would make it better would have been to see the Cooper's again. Maybe next week? Until then.
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