This chickadee was with a loose flock of several others that were foraging primarily in willow trees along Moller Track.
This morning I wanted to look for some Bramblings that were reported from Moller Field yesterday. After dropping Connor at school, Rowan and I rode out to Moller and walked around the fence of the ballfield, then down around the track. We stopped by Swan Lake before I dropped her off at preschool. After dropping her off I went back to Moller to look a little more. I went through the cancer survivors walk, then around the track, and finally up around the ball field. From there I went down by the turnaround, along Katlian Street, up by Observatory Street, then back home. Later this afternoon I picked up Connor and Rowan from their nana’s, and we stopped by Swan Lake so Connor could have a chance to look at the ducks.
Weather: It was calm this morning, but got breezy with some rain showers later in the day. Still, considering how intimidating the forecast sounded with a wind advisory, it was not that bad.
Birds: This morning at Swan Lake we saw 5 Green-winged Teal, one Northern Shoveler, an American Coot, and a Cackling Goose. At the upper end of the lake a little later I looked from the cancer survivors trail and saw Ring-necked Ducks, scaups and 3 American Wigeons. This afternoon the teal and shovelers were gone, and I only saw two American Wigeons (though who knows what was hiding at the upper end of the lake).
At Moller field near the baseball field Rowan and I saw 10 American Pipits. They seemed a little to have a little more blush to their plumage than the ones I have seen at Totem Park this year. There were also 5-10 Savannah Sparrows. We also scared up 2 or 3 Wilson’s Snipe. On my return trip I saw the pipits and sparrows, but not the snipe.
Rowan and I did not see much around the track, though I heard a Northern Flicker and I think I heard a Steller’s Jay in the distance. When I returned, I saw lots of Dark-eyed Juncos, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and at least a couple of Song Sparrows near the Cancer Survivors trail. I also saw them along the east side of the track.
I heard a flicker around the house this afternoon.
At the turnaround there were quite a few starlings and some crows. I saw a few gulls on the beach feeding on salmon carcasses.
There were lots of gulls in the channel, but I did not see any ducks.
Along Observatory there were two first year White-crowned Sparrows feeding in a yard. At the upper end of the street I saw a Hermit Thrush.
