Canal Road Oaks

I began searching for acorns a bit late this year. Canal Rd. last year around August produced a few acorns. This year, with the addition of two homes near the oak stand, I found that the landscaper or housing developer tossed additional dead sod into the understory of the oak stand. Garbage or compost? I suppose the difference would be the fact that compost usually is cured and spread evenly. This was a clump of unused dead sod carelessly tossed into the oak stand understory at the end of the new home on the 8600 block of Canal Rd. Here is the Facebook page. I hope it gets cleaned up.

Anyway, I didn't find ANY acorns this late in the season and I really wonder about this years acorn crop production.

Also this link from the Prairie Oak list:
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/domestic/western_bluebird.html

Fort Lewis has been assisting in the repopulation and relocation, if you will, of Western Blue Birds on San Juan Island. The project has entered into a contest http://www.zooboise.org/zbcfprojects.aspx

More on Blue Bird Projects in the South Puget Sound

Mountain Bluebirds

Took a drive down Canal Rd and saw the resident Mountain Bluebird near
the oak stand. And I was surprised to see another Mountain Bluebird
1/4 mile past the oaks. There is alot of new construction going up on
Canal, very near this oak stand. I was happy to see two Mountain
Bluebirds though both male. I have yet to see a female Mountain
Bluebird. I know that there must be at least one female nearby.

Watched a Red Winged Blackbird that lives near the canal bridge on
Wilkenson along with a Raven and several swallows flying over the
canal. It is a wonder that these swallows can fly just above the
water. One swallow had a rusty brown back and two very long pin shaped
tail feathers ... so I suspect it may be a Barn Swallow.

Two Oregon Juncos appeared today at the leftover millet feeders. I
have had no visits since the Pine Siskins have emptied most all of the
millet feed in less than two days. It seems that the Pine Siskins do
not like to feed at a less than FULL feeder......I may have an idea
here and just not fill the feeders completely in order to see my
Chickadees and Juncos again. I have not seen the two pair of Pine
Siskins in about two days now. The Chickadees happily peck at the
millet that still remains at the feeder.

In the past week I have had a visit from a European Starling. He will
light on the suet to feed briefly. He has since moved on. European
Starlings are not frequent visitors to my yard.

I watched the Merlin fly over at about 5PM the other night. A local
Chickadee sent out a sharp set of alerts just before he flew into my
line of vision and then North. He was a very very light grey, Merlin.
Likely the same Merlin that I have seen here in and around my yard
before that most have attempted to convince me was a hawk. (I have
seen both here.) It is so neat to hear everything around you in the
yard go so silent and then....wait....and look around after the alert
call. I get a surprise nearly everytime!

First Mountain Bluebird - Thurston County Yelm

Along Canal Rd. there is a small stand of Oaks where I watched a
Mountain Bluebird fly across the road earlier this week. I imagine it
is the same Mountain Bluebird that was in this location last year.

See TWEETERS ARCHIVE

Western Bluebird from BirdWeb

Western Bluebirds can be found in eastern Washington at the edges where the forest meets the steppe. They are also found in open coniferous forest, especially Ponderosa pine. They are especially common in areas where nest box projects have provided them with adequate cavities. Nest boxes are in place in Kittitas, Yakima, Klickitat, Walla Walla, Columbia, and Garfield Counties. In western Washington, Mountain Bluebirds are now regular, but uncommon, in the Fort Lewis area, and rare in forest clearings in King, Pierce, Thurston, and Mason Counties, and in prairie areas near Port Townsend (Jefferson County), at the mouth of the Naselle River (Pacific County), Forks (Clallam County), and other sites on the eastern Olympic Peninsula. They can also be found year round in Skamania County.

[Yelm habitat is mostly, prairie]

Mountain Bluebird from Birdweb

Mountain Bluebirds can be found in alpine parklands in the Cascades, the Blue Mountains, and the northeast corner of Washington. They are absent as breeders from the Olympic Mountains. In western Washington, they can be found locally near Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens. In eastern Washington they can be found along Umtanum Ridge (Yakima County), Elk Heights (Kittitas County), in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, and at mid-elevations on the east slope of the Cascades in meadows and logged areas. There is a significant population in Klickitat County around Bickleton where an intensive nest box program has provided many nesting opportunities. The Mountain Bluebird is the only bluebird that nests in alpine parkland and high elevation open areas. In the winter they can be found in flocks in similar habitat and more open, treeless terrain, but they are very uncommon.

Description:
Blue back, wings, and head. White breast.
Earlier notes [2009] indicate, white eyering, white breast, blue wings w/small patch of black overall color blue which suggests a Western Bluebird.

Noted in S. Thurston County, Tenino: 2 - 9 Feb. 2010 on Tweet

Tweets, Monday around noon I spotted a female Mountain Bluebird near 16700
Gibson Rd in s. Thurston Co. This location is about 5 minutes from I-5 via
exit 88 (Grand Mound/Hwy 12 exit), then east on Old Hwy 99 toward Tenino.
Gibson runs north from just past the racetrack, and the bird was located
beyond the jog then north past the 3 chicken barns along the east-west
fenceline on the right that borders the tree farm. I was out searching for
kites and shrikes but also thinking it might be a good day for bluebirds to
be about. (I encountered 4 male Western Bluebirds along Gibson Rd on Feb 9
2009, evidently passing through.) This bird was well off the road but
happened to make a foray to the ground and caught my eye just as I was
driving slowly by. The last time a Mountain Bluebird was reported in
Thurston County it stuck around for several days. Good birding!
-- P. H. / Tenino, s. Thurston Co / phicks AT accessgrace DOT org