September 26, 2019 - Theler Wetlands

I drove out to Belfair today to join the group of birders at the Theler Wetlands.  This site is owned by the North Mason School District.

Or "Distirct", I'm not certain which.  Do they teach speling, there?

Every second and fourth Thursday we have the opportunity to bird there, led by volunteers Faye McAdams Hands and John Riegsecker of the Advanced Birding Club of Tahoma Audubon, for a walk through this great estuary on the Union River in Belfair.  The route we take includes the trails and boardwalk on the Theler property, as well as part of the WDFW Union River Wildlife Area Unit and the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group’s ‘Salmon Center’.

Who says Birding and Art don't mix?

Today, a dozen of us enjoyed the walk, seeing 53 bird species.  It was a rainy day, but was 10-15º warmer than it was for me last week in Alaska, so I was quite comfortable.

Cross Spider Araneus diademata web in the dew

It is autumn now, and the effects of insects on the deciduous forest are becoming evident.

The nitrogen-rich alder leaves are an excellent food source for invertebrate shredders, and those inverts draw in the warblers.

Townsend's Warbler taking advantage of the bounty

We noted the Lungwort:  This is a large, bright green, leaf-like lichen that grows on tree bark and mossy rocks.  It has lots of ridges and lobes, creating a lettuce leaf or lung-tissue appearance.  The green algae give lungwort its bright green appearance.  The underside of this lichen is pale with pockets of cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) that are dark in color.

Lobaria sp. - I think it's Lobaria pulmonaria

The cyanobacteria fix nitrogen, so that when these lichens fall to the ground after a storm or wind event, they decompose into the forest floor, contributing their nitrogen reserve to the soil.

Sharing the limb with a species of Usnea

The Salmon Center has a garden and quite the zoo, with a small flock of chickens, and several alpacas.

Bird-watching at its best:  A Chicken Crossed with Bill the Cat!

'Pacas at the Farm at the Water's Edge

Expert birder Diane Yorgason-Quinn always takes a photo of the group each time, and posts it on her Flickr page.  This is a great group of folks to go birding with!

Stolen from Diane's Flickr site

On the way back to Olympia after the walk, I stopped to get a mushroom burger for lunch at Big Bubba’s Burgers in Allyn, then went down to the Port of Allyn’s Waterfront Park to eat the meal.  I ended up talking to a gentleman by the name of Dwight G---, who was feeding some perch carcasses to the gulls and crabs off the end of the dock, and found out that he was quite the anti-Trump-conservative!  I always appreciate the diversity of opinions that I find in rural western Washington. 

Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrid - the most common gull in Puget Sound

Theler Wetlands eBird Checklist is Here

Allyn Waterfront eBird Checklist is Here

"Rock Pigeon" with no rocks around . . .