Birding at Discovery Park, Seattle

After we decided to visit Seattle this year I started looking for best birding hot spots to visit in Seattle. And the first place that was recommended was Discovery park. Its close to the downtown and did not need lot of driving too. And the best part was it had different habitat for all sorts of birds.

Because of the continuous rain showers during the day I had to delay my walk for the day. I started my walk at around 10:30AM. It was still drizzling but I decided to try my luck with the showers. After a while it was raining on and off. Thankfully I did get some great birding done for the day. But I did not expect the trail to be hard. The trail is listed as medium but climbing all those stairs was a little tough but worth the effort :-)

I started the trail from the visitor center. The woods behind the visitor center was good. I saw Golden-crowned kinglet, Song Sparrow, Bushtits and Thrushes here. There were couple of Anna's hummingbird flying around too.

Hermit Thrush

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Spotted Towhee

Orange-crowned Warbler

Bushtit

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Chestnut backed chickadee

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

From here I decided to head towards the lighthouse which was the place I was most interested to visit. In the waters here I saw Bonaparte's Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Mew Gull and few others. In the waters I saw a Common Goldeneye pair.

Common Goldeneye

Glaucous Winged Gull

The weather was good with a slight drizzle. Very good weather for a long stroll :-) In the shore waters I saw few Western Grebe, couple of Surf Scooter and lone Pelagic Cormorant. I also saw few Common Loons and Red-throated in the waters. There were also Red-breasted Merganser and Red-necked Grebes in the water along with Horned Grebes. I also had few Brant flying over couple of times. A lone Bald Eagle flew over me as well. Most of these birds I was watching them for the first time. I just took some record shots to help me with the ID's. Had a great birding walk but better weather would have helped me get some photographs of these birds.

Surf Scooter

Western Grebe

Common Loon

Red-necked Grebe

Brant

Bald Eagle

Horned Grebe

Red-necked Grebe

Pelagic Cormorant

Red-breasted Merganser

Horned Grebe

Mallard

Double Crested Cormorant

Red-throated Loon

ebird :  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S36044060

List of birds seen during the day.

1	Brant
2	Canada Goose
3	Mallard
4	Surf Scoter
5	Common Goldeneye
6	Red-breasted Merganser
7	Common Loon
8	Horned Grebe
9	Red-necked Grebe
10	Eared Grebe
11	Pelagic Cormorant
12	Bald Eagle
13	Red-tailed Hawk
14	American Coot
15	Bonaparte's Gull
16	Mew Gull
17	Herring Gull
18	Glaucous-winged Gull
19	Anna's Hummingbird
20	Downy Woodpecker
21	Northern Flicker
22	Steller's Jay
23	American Crow
24	Tree Swallow
25	Violet-green Swallow
26	Black-capped Chickadee
27	Chestnut-backed Chickadee
28	Bushtit
29	Brown Creeper
30	Bewick's Wren
31	Golden-crowned Kinglet
32	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
33	Hermit Thrush
34	Orange-crowned Warbler
35	Yellow-rumped Warbler
36	Dark-eyed Junco
37	Song Sparrow
38	Spotted Towhee
39	Red-winged Blackbird

40	Red-throated Loon