[Tweeters] Capitol Lake/Forest Report

[Isacoff, Jonathan]

Had a chance to bird Capitol Lake and Capitol Forest for a half day for the first time. I didn't know what to expect and was mostly going by the ABA book but there were what seemed to be some good birds about. Below are the species observed in about 6 hours of birding. I got solid visuals on 5 of the HERMIT WARBLERS, which were all sining. Others responded to an ipod playback. I believe I heard at least 5 or 6 more, but as it is a new species to me, I only counted the ones that were 100%. I also had what I would 99% say was a Western Bluebird in the glass with excellent light and just at the moment of 100% ID confirmation it was flushed by some Mountain Bikers, so I didn't count it.
 
I was surprised at the abudance of WILLOW FLYCATCHERS, which reliably were listed at 12 but probably were more like 20, almost all singing and/or flycatching in clear-cuts relatively away from water. In the Spokane Area, they are almost always in Riparian areas within 200-300 meters of water.  Anyone have an opinion about that?
 
Also of note, there was a conspicuous HARBOR SEAL swimming just off the bridge at the South end of Capitol Lake. Does anyone have a sense of whether this is unusual?

Good birding, Jon Isacoff
 

Capitol Lake

20 Mallard  

30 Double-crested Cormorant  

4 Great Blue Heron  

20 Glaucous-winged Gull  

1 Rock Pigeon  

1 Belted Kingfisher  

20 American Crow  

50 Violet-green Swallow  

4 Barn Swallow  

6 Bushtit  

1 Swainson's Thrush  

2 American Robin  

1 European Starling  

8 Cedar Waxwing  

1 Yellow Warbler  

1 Spotted Towhee  

10 Song Sparrow  

2 White-crowned Sparrow  

2 Black-headed Grosbeak  

4 Red-winged Blackbird  

1 Brown-headed Cowbird  

1 American Goldfinch

 

Capitol Forest

9 Band-tailed Pigeon  

2 Mourning Dove  

1 Rufous Hummingbird  

3 Hairy Woodpecker  

3 Northern Flicker  

2 Olive-sided Flycatcher  

1 Western Wood-Pewee  

12 Willow Flycatcher  

3 Hammond's Flycatcher  

10 Pacific-slope Flycatcher  

10 Warbling Vireo  

5 Steller's Jay  

1 American Crow  

4 Common Raven  

3 Chestnut-backed Chickadee  

15 Winter Wren  

9 Swainson's Thrush  

10 American Robin  

8 Varied Thrush  

4 Orange-crowned Warbler  

1 Black-throated Gray Warbler  

8 Hermit Warbler  

3 MacGillivray's Warbler  

16 Wilson's Warbler  

2 Western Tanager  

8 Spotted Towhee  

1 Song Sparrow  

10 White-crowned Sparrow  

6 Dark-eyed Junco  

5 Black-headed Grosbeak  

3 Pine Siskin  

1 Evening Grosbeak

 
Jonathan B. Isacoff
Associate Professor, Political Science
Director, Environmental Studies Program
Box 52
Gonzaga University
Spokane, WA 99258-0052
Tel.: 509-323-5951
Fax: 509-323-5718
isacoff at gonzaga.edu