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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
This past week I went to Seattle to attend my sister's wedding. It was a pretty good time to hang out with my sister, her husband and my parents. We had time in the morning for my dad and I to do some birding. We couldn't go very far or stay very long, but in just the little time we had, I found about 25 life birds (including about 5 birds I'd saw when I was a child living in California but before I was a birder). We visited a few places in King and Snohomish Counties, including Picnic Point Park, Wallace Swamp Creek Park, Lake Washington and my sister's back yard. I thought it would be best to share what I saw in two posts. In post, perching birds, and in the next, ducks and gulls. One of the first birds I saw was a Golden-crowned Kinglet (a life for me). We also saw many Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and I was was surprised to find my first Hutton's Vireo, which do a pretty good job of looking like kinglets. It must be irritating for birders in the Pacific Northwest to sift through all the kinglets to distinguish them from vireos.
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
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| Hutton's Vireo |
We found many Song and Fox Sparrows. I'd learned that it's easy for easterners to confuse the two species when visiting the Pacific Northwest, since our Song Sparrows do not look like those in Washington State. But after seeing one of each, I found it rather easy to tell them apart, especially if you can see the underside of the bill. Fox Sparrows and Spotted Towhees were both lifers for me.
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| Song Sparrow |
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| Fox Sparrow |
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| Spotted Towhee |
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
We found two species of wrens, Bewick's (which I found out is pronounced like Buick) and Pacific Wrens.
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| Bewick's Wren |
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| Pacific Wren |
We found both Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees and our fair share of Bushtits. I'd seen Black-capped Chickadees as a child, but the others were lifers.
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| Chestnut-backed Chickadee |
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| Black-capped Chickadee |
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| Bushtit |
And I also had the chance to see Anna's Hummingbirds, Red-breasted Sapsuckers (both lifers) and Steller's Jays (which I haven't seen since I was a child).
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
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| Red-breasted Sapsucker |
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| Steller's Jay |
Dang Scott, you rocked it over there! Super cool stuff, and your photo of the Pacific Wren is one of the best I've seen of that secretive little bugger. Cheers!!
ReplyDeleteIt's so fun to rack up so many lifers at once. I gotta say I don't know how you got that Pacific Wren shot...they are bastards to try and photograph, even though they're pretty common. I think I might like the rotund Song Sparrow the best though (we don't get that subspecies where I live).
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