Yesterday morning Nancy and I walked a lot of the Hansville Greenway Trail system. We had a bit of rain at the start of our hike but most of it moved on by the time we finished. We heard an awful lot of birds and saw a few. Even with the weather, it was a nice way to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. The highlight for me was seeing all the swallows over Upper Hawk's and Lower Hawk's Ponds. I think there were four species of swallows present and they were quite active over the water. I think watching swallows fly is a bit like watching a lava lamp. I can waste a lot of time just watching the random movements of the birds as they feed on insects.
This weather was quite a bit better this morning so I decided to stop by Fish Park for a bit of birding before coming to the shop. It was nice and warm and the birds were pretty vocal and active. I thought it was going to be a typical day for the park but it actually turned out pretty good. First, I saw a Black-headed Grosbeak and a Rufous Hummingbird. Both are new additions to my Fish Park list. I spotted the hummingbird collecting plant fibers for use in her nest.
The second highlight was just as I had checked my watch and realized I needed to get moving if I was going to open the store on time. I was trying to get an ID on one last bird before heading to the truck. While waiting for the bird to come out from behind some leaves I noticed what looked like a clump of plant material in a bush. As I was looking at the "clump" I saw a small bird fly into it. I was having trouble getting a good view of the bird but I think it was a Bushtit and I caught it in a fit of nest building.
Bushtit Nest in Poulsbo's Fish Park
Here are our lists from the last two days...
Location: Hansville Greenway Observation date: 5/11/08 Number of species: 27
Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard duck sp. Great Blue Heron Osprey gull sp. Rufous Hummingbird Hammond's Flycatcher Steller's Jay American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Violet-green Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Chestnut-backed Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch Winter Wren Marsh Wren American Robin European Starling Spotted Towhee Song Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird American Goldfinch
Location: Fish Park Observation date: 5/12/08 Number of species: 16
gull sp. Rufous Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Warbling Vireo American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Bushtit Brown Creeper American Robin Orange-crowned Warbler Spotted Towhee Song Sparrow Black-headed Grosbeak Brown-headed Cowbird Pine Siskin American Goldfinch Sparrows sp.
