Taste of Spring at Edmonds Marsh

New friends Mary and Ken invited us over for brunch and birding today. After we enjoyed the result of some really good cookery, we drove a short distance to the Edmonds Marsh, an ~30 acre wetland reclaimed from the old Union Oil Refinery. The day was partly sunny with temperature in the low 40s, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine it was almost spring.

Our four pairs of binocs were immediately placed into service, scanning the marsh from a series of observation posts around the north side. We hoped to see some blackbirds, but only crows obliged us.

After a few minutes, Debby and I realized we were in the company of talented birders. My call of a sandpiper was accurately overruled by Ken's better eyes and knowledge of bird lore; it was a pair of Killdeer romping in the mud flat. Some dabblers were also spotted, possibly Shovelers and/or Gadwalls - the light was too harsh and distance too great to resolve detail.

I brought my camera, hoping for some images to enhance my memory of the outing. Ken and Mary pointed to a tree where a Spotted Towhee and some Bushtits were flitting around. Then Debby pointed me to a cattail where a BlackCap Chickadee was collecting fuzz. Mary spotted a Song Sparrow but I didn't try for its image. I finally got in my own spotting, an Anna's Hummingbird.

Mary gets credit for the final spot; a Great Blue flew over, then another, then another, ..., six in all. Unfortunately, they flew to the opposite side of the marsh, just too far for my limited photographic competence to win the day. But I have a few highly-cropped images to remember them by. One landed in the top of a distant tree; until now, I had never noticed a large bird looking down to see where to place its feet.