The Daily Bucket is a place to catch your casual observations of the natural world and turn them into a valuable resource. Whether it's the first flowers of spring or that odd bug in your basement, don't be afraid to toss your thoughts into the bucket. Check here for a more complete description.
Seattle.
Down at the wetland the wildflowers made up for the lack of birds. Only the usual suspects today, Chickadees and Mallards, Crows, Robins, Towhees. Song Sparrows, Canada Geese, House Finches, Bushtits. One Bald Eagle angling across the sky.
In the meadow between the alders and the lake I think of Monet. Yellow. Violet. Green.
Lupinus sp. and Ranunculus sp.
Later, at the place where where the school-for-wayward-girls used to be, there are almost no birds until I sit on the riprap next to the lake and stop, let myself hear what's happening around me. The lake is high today. It grasps the shoreline, makes puddles and pools where its edges are usually silent. Yellow flashes down from green into water and I follow, first with my eyes, next with my binoculars, last with my camera.
Two female Yellow Warblers bathing in the lake shallows. They are quiet except for the splashing.
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Where are you? What's going on there?
12:50 PM PT: Help. I'm doubting my ID on the two yellow birds above. Female Yellow Warbler or female Orange-crowned Warbler? A definite male Yellow Warbler was in the bushes with these two, but didn't come down for a picture. The full eye ring of the splashers suggests Yellow, as does the bright yellow, but their dark back and pale flanks suggests Orange-crowned. Orange-crowneds have a broken eye ring, though. Any ideas?