By Bonnie Wood
Black Hills Audubon Society has been unable to lead field trips, and BHAS birders are reduced to logging their sightings on ebird.com. Therefore, I would like humbly to report the birds I have seen in my backyard and southeast Olympia neighborhood this spring. No doubt an expert birder and birder-by-ear would have more to list. Still, the diversity of birds has been respectable. The weather has been kind, not stormy; perhaps that is why I have been able to see many birds.
Paul Hicks has reported to folks on his distribution list special birds he has spotted or heard. Perhaps others of you have something special to report! Let me know, and we can put it on our website.
I have a suet and seed feeder in my backyard, and across the street, behind houses, there is a water cachement wetland without pedestrian access. My development, Rossmoor I, has both mature tall conifers and deciduous trees, mostly Mountain Ash and maples.
In February and March, our usual native and overwintering birds were active: both kinds of chickadees, juncos, crows, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Spotted Towhees, Stellar’s Jay, Western Scrub Jay. Anna’s Hummingbirds stayed close. Northern Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, and Bushtits feasted on suet. Golden-crowned Sparrows arrived in the early spring; Song Sparrows and White-Crowned Sparrows started singing their songs. A few houses down the street, Starlings roost, but they rarely came to my feeders this spring.
Very occasionally, Townsend’s Warblers, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, and Golden-Crowned Kinglet visited.
April brought lots more activity. Every dawn and dusk, thirty or more Mallards flew over our house to and from the wetland. They continue to fly over every evening. (This is not as impressive as last year’s approximately thirty Wood Ducks (!) who flew from the wetland to land smack in our front yard last spring.) A Leucistic Towhee (see photo) started hanging out in our cul-de-sac and continues to live behind a neighbor’s house. A Bald Eagle, mobbed by crows, soared overhead, as did Red-Tailed Hawk. Across the cul-de-sac one morning, atop a Douglas Fir, sat an Evening Grosbeak, spotlit by the morning sun. A single Rufous Hummingbird tried to bully Anna’s Hummingbirds away from the nectar, but our yard is Anna’s territory. Violet-Green Swallows scouted the neighborhood. They, and Tree Swallows, used to be common in our neighborhood, but development in southeast Olympia has, sadly, made our neighborhood much less attractive to them. Bewick’s Wrens buzzed. Canada and Cackling Geese flew overhead. In the mornings, Eurasian Collared Doves cooed. One afternoon, a Brown Creeper investigated a Douglas Fir next to my house.
I live a mile from the LBA Woods and walk there often, especially now with COVID-19 restrictions. One afternoon on the footpath around the ball fields in late April, four Townsend’s Warblers chipped a couple of feet about my head, heedless of me, seeking bugs. Pacific-Slope Flycatchers, Pacific Wrens, and Purple Finches were thick. Band-Tailed Pigeons stayed high, and Mournng Doves sighed. A Raven patrolled the canopy.
At Fort Steilacoom (admittedly not in my backyard) , the Ruby-Crowned Kinglets were a dime a dozen.
In the first week of May, American Goldfinches, Western Tanagers, Black-Headed Grosbeaks, and Wilson’s Warblers all arrived in our cul-de-sac, active and vocal. In fact, a pair of brave Wilson’s Warblers sought bugs for about fifteen minutes in an old rhododentron right outside the window where I sit at my laptop.(!) Four Western Tanagers cavorted in the Mountain Ash across the street. Red-Breasted Sapsuckers tapped. A mother and baby House Finch started visiting the feeder every morning.
This is also not my backyard: we visited Darlin Creek in late April, where Black-Throated Gray Warblers were busy at Darlin Creek’s parking area. Yellow-Rumped Warblers and Orange-Crowned Warblers were also thick. We heard Common Yellowthroat. Red-Winged Blackbirds nested in the reeds. Marsh Wren chittered. Four Bufflehead and a Hooded Merganser pair floated on Lake Lucinda. Brown Cowbirds whistled from up high.
As long as I am cheating with the limits of “my backyard,” I will also report Barn Swallow, House Wren, and Turkey Vulture on the Chehalis-Western Bike Trail. On May 10, there was an Olive-Sided Flycatcher atop a tall tall snag.
Finally, we await the fledging of Chestnut-Backed Chickadees from one of our yard’s bird boxes. Oh those parents are working hard!
