More Birds of Coulon Park

We don't get to Coulon Park so much these days because the weather is not as inviting and with the short days there are less hours available to do outside stuff. I moved a few miles away from the park so it takes more careful planning to get there. I still have more photos of critters that hang out at the park for at least part of the year. Most of the time there is a heron somewhere along the water front. This one must know where the shallow water is located because he was a long way out on the lake. (That is the south end of the Seattle skyline in the background.)
They are usually spotted on a perch above the water looking for a fish to swim close by.

Since I have never seen more than one heron at a time, these photos may be of the same one but different days or at different times of the day.

They stay at their post well into the evening and once I saw one dive in and come up with a fish.

I am not sure if this was a heron. He seemed to have a shorter neck and was not paying much attention to the water. He was too far away for a good look. The sunset behind the Olympic Mountains was pleasant.
They are elegant birds and graceful when flying.
Most of the time there is a bird for every perch. They put spikey stuff on the lamp posts that are above the walkways to discourage birds from roosting there.
There are always seagulls looking for scraps. They will raid your picnic if you don't stay close to your food.
You don't see a Belted Kingfisher at the park very often. When you do see him he is very busy. I took 20 photos of him on the day of this picture but all the others were blurry or he had already flown out of view and I had a good photo of background with no bird.
The Red Wing Blackbirds are around in spring and early summer. They also don't hold still for the camera. I think I need to learn to use a faster shutter speed. You can hear the males calling before you see them. In the spring they are heavily involved in sparing for mates and territory. Later when the nests are full, I have seen two of them team up to drive away a crow.

Occasionally a covey of Quail scurry away into the cover. This guy was with friends but they were too quick for me.
These are a common bird in the fall winter and early spring. They don't hang around in the summer. They are usually in a bunch of 25 or more with several different groups. I don't know if the different flocks stay segregated from each other or if they intermingle. Last week I saw several hundred of them in all parts of the park and nearly half were on the water. They swim around like ducks and frequently dive. They can stay under water for several seconds. If they are startled and dive, they usually come back to the surface many feet from where they went down.
This guy or one of his identical friends is usually on this particular lamp post.


The swallows live under the bridge. they are fun to watch and seldom land. They fly in erratic swoops and circles and sometimes skim along the surface of the water. their nests are made of mud. They are called barn swallows but we don't have any barns handy so under the bridge works for them. They work in pairs to take care of the little guys in the nest.

I saw both of these swallows resting on the same day. It must have been a tough one.
Maybe the little ones were acting like teenagers that day.

The Atonement