Here on Eureka's temperate shores we're in denial -- we know what is coming. For weeks, the maples have slowly been turning gold and red. The sun rises a few minutes later and sets a few minutes earlier each day. Yarrow and lupine give way to asters. They hint, they highlight the cusp of the coming season. But the warblers: that's the sign. Their summer homes in nearby mountains have chilled and they wisely return to the lowlands to weather out the winter.
Sept. 19
Backyard, feeders
8:30-9:00 a.m. Clear, sunny
Chestnut-backed chickadee 12
House sparrow 15
American goldfinch 3
Yellow warbler 1
Townsend warbler 2
Yellow-rumped warbler 2
Sept. 20
Eureka Marsh
8:00-10:30 a.m. clear, sunny
No counts
Black capped chickadee
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Lesser goldfinch
American goldfinch
Great blue heron
Great egret
Fox sparrow
Song sparrow
Lincoln sparrow
White-crowned sparrow
Common raven
Northern flicker
Cedar waxwing
Black-shouldered kite
N. Shoveler
Marbled godwit
Willet
Black-bellied plover
Semipalmated plover
Long-billed curlew
Double-crested cormorant
Brown pelican
American crow
Plus an unidentified hummingbird, several gulls and a flock of warblers moving too fast for us to ID (possibly yellow warblers, but never got a good enough look)
Sept. 29
7:45-8:00 a.m. partly cloudy
Backyard, feeders, fly-bys
Goldfinches (mostly American but at least one Lesser GF) 11
Cedar waxwings 17
Black phoebe 1
Amer. crow 2
