Today I met 18 local birders at Bradley Lake where after a brief orientation we headed off to DeCoursey Park, starting there because Bradley Lake was frozen completely over with zero waterfowl present. At DeCoursey we started at the playground area where we got oriented to several species of waterfowl including Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, Mallard, Canada Goose, Lesser Scaup and Ring-billed Duck. New birders were surprised at the species diversity so close to town in a city park. We also had nice looks at the hyperkinetic Ruby-crowned kinglet along with Black-capped Chickadees and a Yellow-rumped warbler. As we rounded the back of the lake we saw an introduced/escapee Muscovy Duck looking far out of place at abut 32 degrees F. Jerry Broadus, TAS President and excellent birder, was along on the trip and very helpful, spotting a Cooper’s Hawk as it flashed across the lake. It continued to tease us until it was finally located perched across the street overlooking Clark’s Creek. After crossing the creek we managed to find two individual males of the species Dennis Paulson calls our “most common rare bird,” Eurasian Wigeon. This was very close to where Joe Schneider pointed out a “white heron” that we quickly identified as the locally uncommon Great Egret that has been a Pierce County target for local birders in late 2016 and into 2017. Further along the walk we found several Red-breasted Sapsuckers, on on a nicely drilled sapsucker tree, Bewick’s wrens, Pacific Wrens, Brown Creepers, Golden-crowned Kinglets and Chestnut-backed Chickadees.
From here we headed back to Bradley Lake, unfortunately still frozen over, where we ended the trip with sightings of a Bald Eagle just as we arrived and reversing the route of a flock of American Wigeon. Best bird of the fairly brief stop at Bradley Lake was what one participant called the “Halloween” bird, a perched Varied Thrush.
Thanks to all the participants, and to The News Tribune for their article promoting the trip.
Here is a list of the birds seen on the trip from our DeCoursey and Bradley Lake eBird lists:
Canada Goose 19
(1) — — — — — —
Gadwall 6
(1) — — — — — —
Eurasian Wigeon 2
(1) — — — — — —
American Wigeon 142
(2) — — — — — —
Mallard 40
(1) — — — — — —
Northern Pintail 4
(1) — — — — — —
Green-winged Teal 2
(1) — — — — — —
Ring-necked Duck 10
(1) — — — — — —
Lesser Scaup 2
(1) — — — — — —
Bufflehead 20
(1) — — — — — —
Hooded Merganser 10
(1) — — — — — —
Great Blue Heron 8
(1) — — — — — —
Great Egret 1
(1) — — — — — —
Cooper’s Hawk 1
(1) — — — — — —
Red-tailed Hawk 1
(1) — — — — — —
Glaucous-winged Gull 10
(2) — — — — — —
Belted Kingfisher 6
(2) — — — — — —
Red-breasted Sapsucker 3
(1) — — — — — —
Northern Flicker 10
(2) — — — — — —
Steller’s Jay 7
(2) — — — — — —
American Crow 12
(2) — — — — — —
Black-capped Chickadee 26
(2) — — — — — —
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 4
(2) — — — — — —
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
(1) — — — — — —
Brown Creeper 3
(2) — — — — — —
Pacific Wren 2
(1) — — — — — —
Bewick’s Wren 4
(2) — — — — — —
Golden-crowned Kinglet 18
(2) — — — — — —
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 12
(2) — — — — — —
American Robin 3
(2) — — — — — —
European Starling 2
(1) — — — — — —
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
(1) — — — — — —
Fox Sparrow 1
(1) — — — — — —
Dark-eyed Junco 12
(2) — — — — — —
White-crowned Sparrow 2
(1) — — — — — —
Song Sparrow 8
(2) — — — — — —
Spotted Towhee 3
(2) — — — — — —
Pine Siskin 20
(1) — — — — — —
American Goldfinch 8
(1) — — — — — —
