Barrows goldeneye, Discovery Park

When Barrow's goldeneye touch down in our waters, they come ready to fatten up and mate. In their mating colors, the males are one of the loveliest of our winter ducks. Top ten for sure, anyway.


Here's the female.


And a splendid male.

Common fungal beauties, Discovery Park

I just bought "Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest" by Steve Trudell and Joe Ammirati, and I've been enjoying it. Lovely pictures, solid descriptions, easy navigation -- it has all you need in a field guide, almost. (I'd like an English index.) So even though, the weather has been unsuitably sunny, I went looking for mushrooms.

I found these under a rotting log. I think they are Lentinus strigosus. Here's what they look like from the top.




Calocera cornea, all in a row.


Parasola plicatilis.

November turtle

Three turtles were out soaking up the November sun. This one was the biggest.

Ruddy Duck, Green Lake

This morning was beautiful, with the low sun giving extra color to the landscape. Of course, what caught my eye was a gray duck.


This is a ruddy duck, a female or possibly a youngster. It's a type of duck sometimes called a stifftail, for its posture. The bird books say they're common, but I've never seen one on Green Lake before.

Ducks, Montlake Fill

Green-winged teal with contortionist mallard.


Northern Shovelers, heads partly up.


A more typical pose. Shoveler's broad bills are combed with 110 tiny projections, which help them sieve animals out of the water.


Drake, head up.

Fall mushrooms, Discovery Park

It's mushroom time in Discovery Park. Here are a few sightings. Fred Rhoades kindly helped me with the IDs. Check his site out. He's currently testing the possibilities of 3D photography.



This is candlewick fungus, or Xylaria hypoxylon, a name I will keep in mind if I ever do a nature alphabet book.




A lovely coral mushroom, probably genus Clavulina.




Stropharia ambigua.




This is might be Chlorophyllum olivieri or Chlorophyllum rhacodes. Either way, there's a lot of them in Discovery Park.





Possibly Leratiomyces ceres.


Some kind of Psathyrella, possibly Psathyrella gracilis.

Flocking songbirds, Discovery Park

At the north edge of the south meadow, a big flock of cedar waxwings filled the branches of a tree. They took off. I looked up, and saw a northern harrier, followed by three crows. And then the noise was over.

Near the lighthouse, a mixed flock of song sparrows and golden-crowned sparrows hopped around the grass and shrubs. Golden-crowned sparrows winter here. They breed in the mountains of B.C., the Yukon and Alaska.

One of the golden-crowns was singing. I find the sound endearing. It seems slower and more easygoing than other sparrows. And they're handsome too. Here's a profile.