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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MKinHK" data-source="post: 3411492" data-attributes="member: 21760">The following morning I ventured further afield , but spent a great deal more time getting to Seahurst Park, a steep wooded valley leading down to the sea, than I did birding it. Apart from the good numbers of American Robins there was not much to see in the early morning gloom on the way down, but a few Glaucous-winged Gulls on the beach and five Surf Scoters bobbing offshore cheered me up, while the pair of Harbour Porpoises was a welcome mammal tick. I had a few more birds on the way up, headed by a white-rumped Northern Flicker that zipped across the road and a briefly seen Golden-crowned Kinglet, looking for all the world, with its strong white supercilium and flaming crown like an American cousin of Europe’s Firecrest.  Other birds here included a couple of Barn Swallows hunting low over a garden lawn and a pair of House Finches. An evening visit to the home of our host from Seattle Airport overlooking the Sound provided an opportunity for a stroll around the marsh and woods behind Normandy Park Cove. There were not may birds on the sea, but an adult Bald Eagle flying by was my first of the trip. Looking inland as the wind dropped and the sun came out my attention was immediately caught by five or six Red-winged Blackbirds that were vigorously proclaiming their ownership of the little marsh by the car park. Responding well to my pishing, they put on a wonderful display, clinging onto the bulrushes and drooping their wings to display the fine red shoulder patches to best effect. A couple of Cedar Waxwings disappeared into a bramble patch, but were kind enough to perch later on a treetop snag with another pair. Other birds in the woods, which I accessed by the boardwalk trails that told a great story of ecological restoration by the Normandy Park Community Club included a cracking male Wilson’s Warbler, a female Black-throated Grey Warbler which initially confused me with its pale throat, Spotted Towhee, Black-capped Chickadee, a showy American Robin and the usual furtive scuttlings of a couple of Song Sparrows. As I emerged Violet Green and Barn Swallows were hunting over the lawn, while higher up a pair of Red-tailed Hawks were doing their best to ignore the attentions of a couple of American Crows and a fine pair of American Goldfinches posed nicely at the edge of the reed bed. Just before heading back for dinner I found an immature Glaucous-winged Gull and a family of Mallards on a pool tinged a wonderful mix of greens by the reflections of the spring-leafed trees. Other birds included brief views of a female hummingbird sp., and a Bald Eagle that flew directly overhead carrying a fish – and disappeared behind a roof at exactly the moment I pressed the shutter of my camera.CheersMike</blockquote>

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