December 3 - Capitol Lake North Pool

I had errands in town this morning, and when I was finished, I stopped at Marathon Park to circumambulate the north pool of Capitol Lake.

This is actually a reservoir, rather than a “lake”.  In 1951, the State of Washington constructed a dam across the mouth of the Deschutes River estuary.  Something that no one could get away with in the 21^st Century.  For several decades, people could swim and wade in the lake, go fishing and boating, and enjoy the view and the experience.

Now, the lake stinks in the summer.  Aquatic plants and algae bloom and die off, reducing the oxygen content of the water.  Capitol Lake is currently in violation of state and federal waterquality standards, and is closed to active public use.  The high nitrogen-potassium-phosphorous concentrations in the water result in the ‘lake’ not meeting the water quality standards and is on the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list of impaired waters for Temperature, Fecal Coliform Bacteria, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, and Fine Sediment.

The General Administration Department, which ‘owns’ and ‘manages’ the ‘lake’ has a number of informational signs around the lake, explaining a number of options for future management and use.

The Squaxin Island Tribe has been advocating a removal of the dam and a return to a more natural estuary for a number of years.  However, until the rich homeowners on the bluffs above the lake quit whining, lobbying, and paying off the local officials, I expect the lake will remain in Status Quo. 

But, Capitol Lake is usually a pretty active and interesting place to go birding. There was a moderately large raft of coots and diving ducks, including a group of 56 Canvasbacks mixed in with the Ring-necked Ducks, scaup, and coots

Then, I saw - ‘way out in the middle - a drake Redhead.  Just as I was trying to get a shot of it, the flock spooked and I lost track of this bird, which is a somewhat unusual species in the local area.

I continued around, admiring the bright red of the bittersweet nightshade berries in the afternoon sun.

Bittersweet Nightshade - Solanum dulcamara

This species is a slender perennial vine found throughout western Washington and Oregon, especially in riparian areas, wetlands, field edges, gardens, parks, and roadsides. This plant is toxic to people, pets, and livestock.

This is not the same plant as “deadly nightshade” (Atropa belladonna), which is an extremely poisonous plant.  However, bittersweet nightshade is somewhat poisonous and has caused loss of livestock, pet poisoning and, more rarely, sickness and even death in children who have eaten the berries.  Fortunately, bittersweet nightshade has a strong, unpleasant odor, so most animals will avoid it, and poisonings from this plant are not very frequent.

The entire plant contains solanine, the same toxin found in green potatoes and other members of the nightshade family, and it also contains a glycoside called dulcamarine, similar in structure and effects to atropine, one of the toxins found in deadly nightshade. The toxin amount varies with soil, light, climate and growth stage. They say ripe fruits are generally less toxic than the leaves and unripe berries, but even ripe berries can be poisonous.

As I was about to leave the lake, I saw that the raft of diving ducks had reassembled near the west shoreline, so stopped to scan again for the Redhead.  I found not one, but TWO, drake Redheads!  One was an adult & the other appeared to be a younger bird.

Pair of Redhead drakes in the flock of Ring-necked Ducks and Lesser Scaup

As I was watching the flock of diving ducks, another red duck swam past.  It was a bright male Cinnamon Teal!

Cropped shot of a Cinnamon Teal drake in December

It is pretty late for one of these to be hanging around, but I enjoyed seeing what is usually a “summer duck” in with the wintering waterfowl flock.

Capitol Lake eBird checklist

December 2 - Downtown OlyWA

I decided to walk downtown to mail birthday cards to my sisters, and hopefully they'll get them in time.  I left home and went south and east down the Garfield Nature Trail to West Bay Drive.  It is colder in the canyon, as cool air flows into and fills the draw.  This maidenhair fern frond is showing the effects of too little warmth and too little light.

Maidenhair fern - Adiantum pedatum

There was a fair assortment of birds in the ‘burbs, and I was treated to a small mob of crows harassing a red-tailed hawk.

There is a large lot at the corner of West Bay Drive and Garfield with lots of blackberry brambles, a hawthorn that still has lots of berries, and a neighboring house that has filled bird seed feeders.  There was a lot of sparrow action in the brush there, as well as this Anna’s Hummingbird that appeared to be hunting spiders amongst the foliage.

Anna's Hummingbird hunting spiders

I continued across the Fourth Avenue Bridge

4th Avenue Bridge

and noted a Kingfisher fishing from the “Hazardous Condition” warning sign on the railroad bridge below.

West Bay Railroad Bridge

This rail line has been pretty much abandoned since the Port of Olympia ‘managed’ the property along West Bay so that the former mills and factories burned-down, quit business, or gave up.  It’s pretty obvious that the Port would like to have “Market Rate” housing and that sort of non-production development in the area, but that pipe dream has not come to fruition.  A couple of years ago the local artistes decorated the bridge in a fit of “Art Happens”, and the colors persist.

Passing by the Olympia Oyster House, I see there’s a sign promising an “Early 2019” re-opening.  The restaurant is situated in the same 1924 building where The Olympia Oyster Company culled the native Olympia oysters back in 1859.

The Olympia Oyster House

The place closed last October, but the place was purchased by some local restaurateurs.  Patrick Knutson runs Budd Bay Cafe in Olympia and River’s Edge in Tumwater, while Scott McKinney has Pints & Quarts in Lacey and Pints Barn in Tumwater. Pam Oates, who co-owns Budd Bay and River’s Edge, also has a minority stake in the Oyster House venture.

They used to have pretty good food and a decent back bar, and it’s a great place to sit on the deck in the summer and enjoy some good seafood.  However, apparently there were financial and other difficulties for the previous owner.  After the 2013 fire and rebuild, owner Leticia Barrett and Manager Abram Smith were subjects of picketing by former employees alleging a host of concerns, including workplace hostility and a toxic, dysfunctional environment.  Hopefully the new owners will treat their people better, and we citizens can enjoy the cuisine and atmosphere.

After doing some errands, I walked north from the Post Office to East Bay to do some birding.

White-crowned Sparrow adult

While there were a lot of birds out enjoying the snippets of sunshine on this cool day, I am always dismayed to note the several homeless camps.  There are several blocks of ‘tent city’ homeless camps in the north downtown area.  I’ll avoid a political rant about the subject…

Railroad Homeless Camp - Downtown Olympia

This camp (above) is just across the street from high-rent “market rate” housing

341 Loft Apartments

The camps, combined with the pollution ‘remediation’ areas make for a pleasant visit to the Olympia downtown area.

The birding is still OK, as there were quite a few Audubon’s and Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers in the landscaping at the LOTT WET Science Center building on Thurston Avenue

Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler

East Bay is always picturesque

East Bay - Olympia

And birdy

Belted Kingfisher female on the piling.  The No. 3 box was placed for nesting Purple Martins

And full of fungus

Nearly 200 crows were staging here prior to leaving for their evening roosts.  It felt kind of like the scene from Hitchcock….

Hitchcockian Crows

I continued to the North Point, for this view of the KGY radio studio.

Old KGY Studio - now owned by Sacred Heart Radio

KGY was started in 1922 by a Benedictine monk, Fr. Sebastian Ruth, at St. Martins College.  The station was bought by Archie Taft and moved downtown in 1932.  In 1960, the studio was built at the waterfront site, making it one of the most uniquely situated stations in the country.  In 2014, the 1240-AM station was bought by “Sacred Heart Radio”, they fired most of the staff, and programming went to hell.  KGY is a separate FM entity.  Locals still call this the KGY Studio or KGY Point, however.

I came back past the LOTT (Lacey-Olympia-Tumwater-Thurston Co.) waste treatment facility where several dozen Mew Gulls and Northern Shoveler ducks were feeding in the ponds (never eat a Shoveler within 3 miles of a waste treatment plant…).  The facility flares off its methane, rather than harnessing it for power generation.  I guess Puget Power’s rates must be pretty low, or it would make sense to have one’s own ‘renewable’ power?

Flaring off the Methane gas

West Olympia eBird Checklist here

4th Avenue Bridge eBird Checklist here

Downtown Olympia eBird Checklist here

East Bay eBird Checklist here

North Point eBird Checklist here

Jack Davis Pond eBird Checklist here

December 1 - Squirrel ! !

One of the banes of the backyard bird feeder is that the squirrels often get more seed than do the yard birds.  In our area, the main squirrel species seen is the Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).

Eastern Gray Squirrel - Sciurus carolinensis

Introduced eastern gray squirrels and eastern fox squirrels (S. niger), and native California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi) and Columbian ground squirrels (Urocitellus columbianus) may compete for food and habitat with western gray squirrels (S. griseus) in parts of their range in Washington.  These species are expanding their ranges in Washington and overlap in places with the State-Threatened Western Gray Squirrel in the southern Puget Trough or in parts of Okanogan, Chelan, Yakima, Klickitat, and Skamania counties.  A Univ. Washington PhD student investigated the interactions between the Eastern Grays and the Western Gray Squirrels at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and concluded that there were few competitive interactions between western and eastern gray squirrels largely because of differential habitat use.  This pattern may not hold true in other locations where western gray squirrels and introduced squirrels may occupy the same habitats.

These eastern grays are not native to our State!  According to the State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, they were first introduced into Washington in 1925.  "They are now common in many cities, and thrive in developed areas."  They certainly thrive in my West Olympia neighborhood, and most other cities and 'burbs around here.  Where I grew up in the Willamette Valley in the 1970s or so, it certainly appeared that when the eastern grays and the fox squirrels showed up at my folks' place, the western grays got pushed out.

They're somewhat of a pest.  Besides consuming a high percentage of the birds' feed, they chew up the feeders.  And, they strip our western redcedar and incense cedar trees' bark to make their nests.  While it's a good thing for them to have the aromatic cedar oils at 'home' to deter fleas and ticks, their exfoliation of the trees' bark appears to get pretty close to the cambium layer in a few spots.  With four of these things in the yard this morning, it might be time to heat the oven for Squirrel Pot Pie!

The birds get out of the squirrels' way, and this morning the juncos, finches, towhees and Eurasian Collared Doves vied for their share of the seed mix.

Female House Finch

Male House Finch

Oregon Junco male

Female Oregon Junco

Female Spotted Towhee

The Eurasian Collared Dove is also an Introduced Species - I don't know why I feel less animosity toward them than I feel for the squirrels.  Must be a cultural thing?

As their name implies, Eurasian Collared-doves (Streptopelia decaocto) are native to Europe and Asia.  D'uh.  It is thought that these invasive, non-native birds made their way to the North American continent from releases in the Caribbean.  They were established in the Bahamas in the 1970s when about 50 birds either escaped or were released.  By the 1980s, they made the jump to Florida.  It is unclear how they did it, but they could have made the trip on their own, or they could have blown to shore during a hurricane or there could have been other escapes or releases. Either way, they have been expanding across North America ever since.

Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Collared doves had reached Texas, Colorado & New Mexico in 1995. They expanded into Utah and Montana in 1997 and into Oregon & Wyoming in 1998.  They reached Arizona in 2000 and California in 2001, and expanded into Idaho until 2005.  The earliest eBird record I can find for Washington was from Jefferson County's Gardiner Beach in 1983!  The Eurasian Collared-Dove is now found extensively throughout the state.

They are not regulated by the State's hunting laws, and are described as "delicious"....

On a non-birding note, Marty & I walked south from the house to pick up a Oly Cheesesteak sandwich at Wally's and adjourned across Harrison to the newly-opened Headless Mumby Brewing Company, and met one of the owners, Keith.  He & his business partner Alex specialize in Lagers. We each had a pint of his Dark Czech lager, and were favorably impressed - and, it went well with the cheesesteak!

Keith pouring 1/2 litre pints at the Headless Mumby

And, a pleasant clientèle is reminded that, in a good pub, one doesn't stare at one's &^#@ cell phone!