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Friday, January 24, 2014

Ticking Along

I've had a few nice wildlife sightings this week, and taken a few nice pictures to share. My first year bird of the week was the hairy woodpecker (83) that visited the suet feeder:


On one lunch break I took a quick walk at Three Meadows Marsh, in search of another year bird I had heard reports of. Just before I left I found it: three American coot (84) in the corner of the wetlands.

Today, I went down to Fourth of July Beach to do a COASST survey. No beached birds, and hardly any living birds either! Griffin Bay was surprisingly quiet, with just a few dozen bufflehead and two common loons out there. After finishing up there, I went to the redoubt, wondering if I would see the shrike. I didn't, but I did relocate this photogenic fox, who this time posed nicely in front of Mt. Baker:


On my way back to town, I stopped at a particular snag that usually has one raptor of some species sitting in it. More often than not it's a red-tailed hawk, but that didn't look quite right today. Sure enough, it was a peregrine falcon (85):


Tomorrow I'm helping out with a trumpeter swan count on the island, part of WDFW's winter swan survey. Maybe I'll find something else of interest at the same time....a ruddy duck? Wishful thinking, but you never know!

2 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Great sighting of the Hairy Woodie and Peregrine Falcon. And the fox is pretty. Happy weekend and good luck on your count.

Lois said...

wonderful photos and experience with nature. Thanks for sharing.