By Wayne Grytting
Harrison Ridge is a surprisingly good spot for birdwatching, good enough that it recently attracted Ed Dominguez (of Seattle Audubon) to lead a birding tour of the greenbelt. We have over 26 species of birds (not counting robins, crows or starlings) that have been spotted in our six acre urban forest by my partner, Kevin Castle, myself and other volunteers since the beginning of December. Kevin is an actual birder who’s able to identify numerous birds by their songs. I’m a pretend birder who has a wonderful bird app on his smartphone called Merlin that identifies bird songs with pretty high accuracy. Together we've been making at least weekly inventories of the locals before the flood of migratory birds arrive from the south in the spring. Below is our list of the winter "regulars" (and above is a photo of a Bewick's Wren).
Song sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch
Bushtit
House Finch
House Sparrow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Sisken
Bewick’s Wren
Steller’s Jay
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Flicker
Ruby- crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Anna’s Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Brown Creeper
Townsend Warbler
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Spotted Towhee
Pacific Wren
Barred Owl
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
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