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. January 5, 2012.
Three locations along the SW shore of Lake Washington on January 3, 2012.
100% cloud cover; dry to drizzle. Temperature low-mid 50's.
1:15pm - 4:20pm.
A not-unusual Seattle winter day, overcast yet fairly warm with just enough spitty rain to send me to the shelter of the car from time to time. Mostly the usual suspects, but with a harbinger of seasonal change.
Birds seen.
36 species
Pied-billed Grebe
Western Grebe
Double Crested Cormorant
Canada Goose
Gadwall
Mallard
American Wigeon
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Bufflehead
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Mew Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Glaucous-winged X Western Gull
Great Blue Heron
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Anna's Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Winter Wren
Bewick's Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-winged Blackbird
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Spotted Towee
Dark-eyed Junco
House Finch
House Sparrow
Of note:
The first Red-winged Blackbirds of the year were calling "glug-a-wee?!" from the old city nursery just south of the restored wetland. They've held their first-of-the-year choruses in this location every year that I've kept records, and this, I'm embarrased to say, is the place where my memory and my written records go astray. My memory told me to expect the first Red-winged Blackbird chorus towards the end of January. My written notes suggest that the old memory isn't very good...
Red-winged Blackbird arrival dates, 2006-2012
January 1, 2006
January 31, 2007
March 8, 2008
January 8, 2009
January 13, 2010
December 27, 2010
January 3, 2012.
In any case, I welcome their presence.
Pacific Chorus Frogs were calling from the brush some distance from the wetland pond. I've kept track of their vocal presence there for some years; in the winter they seem to call when the temperature is about 50 degrees F.
In the summer the marina shallows swarm with turtles, mostly Red-sliders and a skanky fresh water turtle that I believe is native to the warmer regions of the American south. Our own Western Pond Turtle has been absent from the lake for a good while now. Nevertheless, the marina turtles usually burrow deep in the winter. This week was an exception - a single unidentified turtle was resting on a rotting cottonwood log, gape mouthed in the fading light.
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Where are you and what are you seeing there? Carry on - I'll be back in the late afternoon PST.