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The Daily Bucket: Let's do the Twitch [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-12-11

The atmospheric river had already dropped over 3 inches of rain on southwestern Snohomish County over a span of 48 hours. Streamed directly from the tropics over a thousand miles away like a water cannon aimed directly at the Pacific Northwest. There would be a brief lull on day three and I intended to take full advantage of it. For the last several days, eBird had been reporting a Tropical Kingbird at the Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant. A nice paved trail skirts the plant and follows the riverbank of the Snohomish River. The Tropical Kingbird is an extreme rarity here, way out of range from the tropics. The pairing of a tropical stream of moisture and a bird from the tropics struck me as more than coincidental.

THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, SOIL, PLANTS, WATERS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS. WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU IN YOUR OWN PART OF THE WORLD, AND TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

Let’s begin by looking at the map that shows the walk I made, mostly on the Langus Waterfront Trail that follows along the bank of the Snohomish River and Union Slough. This diary includes links for further exploration.

My walking route is highlighted in yellow.

The Snohomish River fills the channel from bank to bank after the recent rains. The river is running high, murky, strong, and fast. The Langus Riverfront Trail is at right. Farther right is the Everett wastewater treatment plant. The bridge is Interstate 5. Just beyond the bridge is where the trail begins.

There were gulls splish-splashing in the river. The two on the left I think are California Gulls.

The riverbank and nearby areas have low growing vegetation: grasses, willows, dogwood, blackberry, and others. This time of year most leaves have fallen and vegetation has died back. There is an abundance of seeds on these dried up stems, mainly Himalayan blackberry and tansy. Both of these are invasive and are classified as noxious weeds in Washington state. But in fall and winter they provide food in the form of seeds for small birds.

Lets look at a few small birds foraging in the underbrush.

Fox Sparrow

Fox Sparrow. This one is feeding on dried blackberries.

Dark-eyed Junco. A little bit of seed on its bill.

Dark-eyed Junco. A little bit of seed on its bill.

Black-capped Chickadee. Lower left is tansy, one of the seed plants the birds are working on.

Black-capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee looking for insects on a tree trunk.

Song Sparrow. This one seems lighter colored as compared to the usual darker ones we see here in western Washington.

Spotted Towhee

Let’s get right to the twitch. When I arrived and began walking the trail, I ran into a guy on his way out, an obvious birder and bird photographer. He had a camera, tripod, and a lens as big as a bazooka. The lens was camo-colored like all the cool kids have. He gave me a wealth of location information on where and how to look for the Tropical Kingbird. It was pretty simple, by the building with the red doors, perched on a rail. When I arrived at the scene, I was the sole birder, all by myself.

Here we are looking at the building with the red doors. If it were a bird, we’d name it the Red-doored Building. This is as close as we can get.

Zooming in a little closer. The bird is perched on top of the utility box just to the right of the yellow thing (a flotation life ring) and immediately left of the light pole

The next two photos, I maxed zoomed, then cropped big time, and then waved my magic post-processing wand.

Tropical Kingbird

Tropical Kingbird

To learn more about the Tropical Kingbird, click here: All About Birds — Tropical Kingbird

A few gulls hanging out at the plant, congratulating me on my successful twitch. They look mostly like Glaucous-winged Gulls except the one in the back with the more smudgy head (Herring Gull?). I just can’t do gull ID right now. It’s an art. But speculation is welcome.

After my successful twitch, I moved on to look for more birds, wildlife, and just to exist in nature’s vibe. It never gets old, does it ever?

The area has acres of wetland and estuary. This little area here is usually a good place to see Green-winged Teals, but not today. The Langus Riverfront Trail is visible at the very left margin of the photo.

This bridge over Union Slough marks the entrance to Spencer Island, one of the most popular and hottest of birding hotspots in Snohomish County. I didn’t make it over there on this day except to use the port-a-potty at the far end.

Looking across Union Slough to Spencer Island. The bridge is part of the trail system on the island. The water is high.

I didn’t see as many waterfowl as I saw just a week earlier, before the advent of the big rain. The waterfowl like to congregate on and around the wastewater ponds.

Northern Shoveler hen (left) and Gadwall hen (right) on the edge of the wastewater pond. This was a tough shot through a chain-link fence.

Canada Geese at the wastewater pond.

Canada Goose flyby

A flock of Trumpeter Swans

Across Union Slough, I spotted a Great Blue Heron in the Sitka spruce snag. Can you see it?

Great Blue Heron

Smith Island/Union Slough Restoration area, an estuary restored in 2007 and now thriving. A Bald Eagle is perched on the right tree. Can you see it?

Bald Eagle. Looks like a 3 ½ year bird. Here’s a great link for: Bald Eagle plumage

Same Bald Eagle from a different angle.

A different Bald Eagle, an adult, perched high up.

Thanks for joining me. I don’t usually go off on twitches. I don’t like crowds in nature. I’m not really comfortable in a mass of cannon-wielding bird photographers. Is anyone a serious twitcher? I know some of you are. 😉 Do you have a great personal twitch story?

It’s a Bucket, so comment on your latest observations or anything in your natural world.

Thanks for reading the Daily Bucket.

Phenology is how we take earth’s pulse.

We discuss what we see in each Bucket.

We value all observations, as we ponder life’s cycles.

Now it’s your turn.

Please comment about your own natural area, and include photos if possible. We love photos!

To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow, and join to write a Bucket of your own observations.

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