Date: 9/17/26 10:08 pm From: Kenneth Brown via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Eagle's Pride.
The calendar says it's still summer, but today was an early fall day. Sure, it was warm, the sky was clear, the air mostly still. Birds were active and vocal in the early morning. But the light lets you know. There is something different, the air seems clearer than before, the contrast and color saturation turned up, just a bit.
We gathered outside the driving range shed without the founding father of the walk, Denis DeSilvas. He's away attending a familial obligation. We muddled through, none the less. Right from the start, those with ears to hear reported Red Crossbills, lots of them. They occupied the tops of most of the visible fir trees. North of the road there were birds in almost constant motion from a small puddle to nearby trees and back again. The Crossbills, some Golden-crowned Sparrows, and Pine Siskins, bathed communally. Red-breasted Nuthatches could also be heard. A couple of Barn Swallows swooped over the nearby pond, late to head south.
Walking to the first pond, we were surrounded by more Crossbills and Nuthatches, a Merlin flew northwesterly overhead. A lone young Pied-billed Grebe, some juvenile face striping still evident, was the pond's only occupant. Returning to the pond near the start, no bird swam in the receding water but the encircling willows held Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and a couple more Pine Siskins.
Throughout the remainder of the usual route we continued to be inundated with more Crossbills, Nuthatches, and Juncos. Also encountered were Band-tailed Pigeons, Crows, Steller's Jays, a California Scrub Jay, House Finches, Black-capped and Chestnut -backed Chickadees, Golden-crowned, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Anna's Hummingbirds, an Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Wood Ducks and a couple more Pied-billed Grebes on Hodges Lake. The happiest surprise for me was a Nashville Warbler.
The Autumnal Equinox, the official astrological start of autumn, will occur at 5:04 p.m. P.T., September 22 this year, next week. So I guess it's not autumn yet, but it is early fall. _______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list <Tweeters...> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
