Have you ever wondered what birds you might see when you visit West Hylebos Wetlands Park or one of the restoration sites in the Hylebos Creek Watershed? Rainier Audubon members Carol Schulz and Nancy Hertzel decided to find out by leading a field exploration of the watershed on Sunday March 18th.
Carol, Nancy, myself ( Adele Freeland ) and a handful of other avid birders know the area is abundant with birds as the Hylebos is a favorite place of ours for birding. Carol and Nancy started the trip at West Hylebos Wetlands Park exploring the fields around the log cabins, the orchard area behind the old Marckx house and Marlake. They said it was one of the best birding trips ever! They were amazed at what they saw that morning and counted 54 species for the day. Here is Carol's report in her words.
On Sunday March 18th a good-size Rainier Audubon group saw lots of bird species, and had some surprises on the way. The field trip was called "Exploration of Hylebos Creek". The creek starts in Federal Way in South King County, and flows south to Fife, where it empties into the Hylebos Waterway at Commencement Bay in Tacoma. Portions of the urbanized creek have been saved from development and portions have been restored by Friends of the Hylebos and by Citizens for a Healthy Bay.
Our group started at West Hylebos Wetlands Park. The area contains a large forested bog, remnant orchards and two small lakes, Brooklake and Marlake. Here we saw two Red-breasted Sapsucker
gleaning the high branches of a Redwood tree next to the pond (Marlake). Here we also saw two pairs of Wood Duck and heard Pine Siskin, Varied Thrush and singing Brown Creepers. We did not walk the boardwalk on this trip as it was closed, still pending storm repairs.
Driving south on
Hwy 99, turning left (east) onto S373red St, where the Hylebos flows through large fields near the Spring Valley Ranch. We saw an amazing sight at this location! Scanning the field on the south side of the road, we saw a female Barn Owl roosting in a sma
ll tree. She was oblivious to our group. The bird was no more than 70 feet from us. I was very surprised to see a nocturnal owl out in the open like that. It was a warm, cloudy day and she looked so peaceful taking her nap in the tree.
A Red-tailed Hawk was also seen in this area. At this location we also observed another Red-breasted Sapsucker in a tree right next to the road. The bird was sampling sap from the well he has drilled in the trunk of the tree.
From here we continued our journey south on Hwy 99 to the city of Fife. We turned toward the bayon 54th Ave at the Poodle Dog Restaurant. Fife is a wonderful area for birds, there are large mucky fields in the Fife Flats. Here we saw Cinnamon Teal, 2 Greater White-fronted Geese, 12 Wilson's Snipe, and many other songbirds and wat
erfowl. The birds were quite active. We could only see the Snipe when they flew, as they were hidden in the 6" tall grass. At one point a group of 7 Snipe flew directly over our heads! 
We continued south on 54th, turning right onto 8th street. We drove down past the last warehouse, and pulled into the parking lot where an employee has put up sock feeders for the birds on a chain-link fence by a small pond. Feeding here we saw numerous American Gold Finch, Pine Siskin, White-crowned Sparrow and one Golden-crowned Sparrow. In the nearby field a White-crowned Sparrow was singing it's "See Me, Pretty, Pretty Me" song. The first song of the Pugetensis White-crowned Sparrow I've heard this spring.
Driving north again on 54th st., turning right on 4th. We drove all the way to the end of the street and parked. Here a new foot bridge crosses Hylebos Creek to join a trail that follows the base of the bluff. You will find several viewing platforms where you can observe the creek and fields beyond. Here we closely observed another Red-breasted Sapsucker! This was quite the day for Sapsuckers. We heard the erie song of the Varied Thrush coming from high on the bluff. I the fall you can observe salmon spawning on Hylebos Creek.
We continued our trip, traveling on Hwy 509 driving along the east side of the Hylebos Waterway to 11th street, where the bridge spanning the Hylebos is always open. The mudflats near the bridge have been restored by Citizens for a Healthy Bay. They call this area the Hylebos mudflats. Here we observed Northern Pintail ducks, Great Blue Herons and several species of waterfowl. On the pilings you will notice white PVC nestboxes. Rainier Audubon member Todd Tannery built these for Purple Martins, who nest here each summer. The martins will return from wintering in Central America in early May. This is also an excellent location to see Peregrine Falcon. A Perigrine sometimes perches on the open bridge across the waterway, but today it was perched on the large red tower next to the bridge, about halfway up. Wow, what a great sight at the end of our field trip!
Many areas along Hylebos Creek are being restored with native plants, and the habitat along the banks is being enhanced for better habitat for salmon and other wildlife. We birders enjoyed seeing the birds present along the creek. We saw more than 50 species on our Hylebos exploration.
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines WA
[email protected]
If you would like to learn more about the birds mentioned in this blog report please visit WWW.BirdWeb.org. Rainier Audubon has several field trips each month, come and join us!
Adele Freeland
