Seahawks??

Nope, no Seahawks seen this trip. No Osprey either. But I did end up with my life bird Varied Thrush. So it was a good trip.  Below is a recap of places birded and trip list from Seattle 2015.

Friday--Juanita Bay Park in Kirtland for the Red-breasted SapSucker, no luck
             Washington Park Arboretum--wait, is that a Varied Thrush?? just ducked down, does that count?

Saturday--Discovery Park birdwalk with Seattle Audubon.  http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/GetInvolved/GoBirding/NeighborhoodBirdWalks.aspx

                Same walk and leaders as 2014, so it was nice to see familiar faces! The park is big and has several types of habitats. So many of the local birds are there.  Many first of year(FOY) birds and even my lifer. Best bang for your buck birding spot if you are in downtown. I've birded there 3 of my 4 trips to WA.

Is there a bird in this pic?

50x times ZOOM!! BOOM!!

Merlin, juvi

 FOY

Varied Thrush, #572

Discovery Park last year got me #558--Pacific Wren 10/18/14
#559--Harlequin Duck 10/18/14. Gotta love this place.







Monday--Edmunds Marsh, Edmunds Pier/Sunset Ave.
                  The marsh is good for ducks and shorebirds. There is a nice boardwalk and history to this place. Just half mile from there, at the ferry pier is Brackett's Landing. This place is hot too! And just as last year, I saw a raft of Rhinoceros Auklets out toward the bay. Several more scooters, gulls, & cormorants.


 Trip Stats:
 108 hours in Washington
 4     Uber trips
 54  total species
19  FOYs--Notables
(American Wigeon, Surf Scoter, Common Merganser, Pelagic Cormorant, Merlin, Heermann's, Mew, Glaucous-Winged Gull, Rhinoceros Auklet, Band-tailed Pigeon, Anna's Hummingbird, Steller's Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Bewicks Wren, Pacific Wren, Varied Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Golden-Crowned Sp, Western Meadowlark)
  1 LIFER, now at ABA#572

 Next up: Birds, birds, birds,  . . . I need to finish 2015 in Ohio STRONG!!

Washington +1 Lifer!!

Varied Thrush

 . . . And the streak continues!! Back from my fourth trip to Washington state, and I get to tick off another life bird off the list.  This time, at Discovery Park after the birdwalk, up in a tree about 125 yards away . . .

Ixoreus naevius

ABA #572

Bold black band across rusty-orange breast

The Varied Thrush seen in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, with their towering conifers and wet understories of ferns, shrubs, and mosses. Catch a glimpse of this shy bird and you’ll see a handsome thrush with a slaty gray back and breast band set against burnt-orange breast and belly. Common in the Cascades, Northern Rockies, and Pacific Coast, Varied Thrushes forage for insects in summer and switch to berries and seeds in winter.

Both males and females make a variety of calls, usually in aggression or defense. Those calls include a short trill, a harsh churrr, and a series of low chect notes. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Varied_Thrush/sounds

#birdwalk

Gambill family history of seeing a Varied Thrush:
My dad Buddy has his first observation on 12/23/1979 in Findley State Park, Ohio
Red & Louise have seen many through out their years of birding, starting in 1982, 84', 86' and on.

Next up: Washington trip round up . . what's next??