Bird Update

The very day that I departed for Richland, not one but TWO rare birds turned up in Seattle--a Northern Waterthrush at Discovery Park, and a Wandering Tattler at Carkeek Park.  I found it most vexing to read every day about their appearances...days when I was far, far away.  And of course, the day before I planned to return, the reports ceased.  The birds had most likely flown onwards.  Sigh.

On Sunday morning, despite no reports of the birds, I still decided to go to Carkeek Park in the faint hope that the Wandering Tattler might reappear.  What a fabulous name for a bird!  It is a decent-sized roundish gray shorebird, fond of rocks, which I might have seen once in Oregon but don't count on my list because the Audubon guide, due to it being a long ways off on the sea stacks, wasn't 100% sure it wasn't the very similar looking Surfbird.  We did, at least, see Surfbirds.

Anyway, to cut it short, I did not find a tattler, wandering or otherwise, at Carkeek Park. Sigh.  I did find three other birders who themselves were wandering disconsolately up and down the shore--they had not seen it either.  Oh, well.

I got two consolation prizes that morning:  first, a large flock of Band-tailed Pigeons:

And second, an Osprey diving for a fish:

Speaking of Ospreys, after the Carkeek Park visit, I tootled down the road to the Montlake Fill to check in on the family there.  All three kids are now flying and catching fish and fighting over fish and generally being quite active.

That was it for my birding efforts for the past week.  I did not go birding in the Tri-Cities, because late August is not a good time for that there -- very few birds about and way too hot.  I did see oodles of Eurasian Collared Doves, a species that was rare just a few years ago and is now taking over the place.

I wonder if I should change the name of my blog to The Wandering Tattler?  Because basically what I do now in retirement is wander around hither and yon, and then tattle about it here!