It was raining and 46° when we got up this morning. I had an errand this morning, but on the way,
I stopped at the mouth of Schneider Creek to scope Budd Inlet for birds,
picking up Barrow’s Goldeneye, Greater Scaup, and Western Grebe as new for the
year. It was fun watching the gulls
dropping clams onto the cobble strand to crack them open for their breakfast.
A flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers flew from one patch of
cover to another, barely stopping in the rain.
The ones I could get a view of were the Audubon’s subspecies.
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| Audubon's Yellow-Rumped Warbler |
Afterward, I drove over Tumwater Falls Park to walk the
loop trail from the Upper Falls to the Lower one and back.
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| Upper Tumwater Falls west side |
The water was moderately high, but not running
muddy. As I started out, I stopped at
the hatchery weir above the falls to look at a pair of Mallards,
only to have an American Dipper fly over and land on a
barrier log right in front of me! This
park is the easiest location to see the Dippers that I know of.
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| American Dipper |
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| John Muir called them Water Ouzels |
“He is the mountain streams’
own darling, the humming-bird of blooming waters, loving rocky ripple-slopes
and sheets of foam as a bee loves flowers, as a lark loves sunshine and
meadows. Among all the mountain birds, none has cheered me so much in my lonely
wanderings, - none so unfailingly.”
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| White eyelid |
All birds have a nictitating membrane, a translucent
whitish/bluish “third eyelid” that flicks across the surface of the eye from
front to back to protect it while still allowing some vision. But, the white flash of the Dipper is a
white-feathered eyelid. No one seems to
know why this species has this eyelid, and why they show it off with a slow ‘blink’.
I continued down the river to what used to be the
estuary. In 1949, the State of
Washington constructed a dam at the mouth of the estuary to form a “reflecting
pool”.
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| It's called "Capitol Lake" for a reason |
This was the result of ‘planning’ in 1911. The State Capitol Commission had conducted a
design competition for Washington’s capitol building and selected the Wilder
and White plan. That plan included the
concept for “A tide lock at the Boulevard [to the west] would form a lake and
the whole effect would be visible from most parts of the city as well as from
the sound.” Unfortunately, over the past century, the damming
of the estuary has resulted in severe sediment retention, as well as the
trapping of pollutants and nutrients that seriously degrades water
quality. Frankly, the lake stinks for
much of the year.
But, the birds don’t seem to care. The south ‘pool’ of the lake has pretty well
filled in with sediment, and is more marsh than ‘lake’. The middle pool is shallow but provides
habitat for wintering ducks, and today there were ten Trumpeter Swans feeding
in the lake.
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| Big White Birds. What's not to like? |
I walked the South Capitol Lake trail, where a few birds were feeding in the rain
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| Green-winged Teal |
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| Golden-crowned Kinglet |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
Then went over to
Marathon Park to circumambulate the North Pool.
Among the flock of wigeon and diving ducks, there was a
continuing Redhead drake, which is an unusual species for the area.
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| Redhead (photo from two weeks ago... couldn't get a shot today) |
A pair of River Otters did not seem to mind the cold,
rainy weather.
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| River Otter Lontra canadensis |
They were feeding on
crawfish, which thrive in the ‘lake’ until the State draws it down for
‘maintenance’, or in a vain attempt to manage the invasive New Zealand mud
snails.
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| The Glaucous-winged Gull had a good perch to people-watch |
I ended up with ten new species for the year, bringing my
Year List to 82
Schneider Creek eBird Checklist is Here
Tumwater Falls eBird Checklist is Here
South Capitol Lake Trail eBird Checklist is Here
Capitol Lake North Pool eBird Checklist is Here
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