Center for Urban Horticulture

I returned to Union Bay one week after my first visit. This time, I introduced the nature area to my next door neighbor, an avid bird lover. She's lived here all her life and never knew of the place!

We didn't start our walk until early afternoon, so weren't expecting to see as much as I did the week before. But, I did get to see some things I didn't see the last time.

• Over two dozen turtles sunning themselves on logs close to Yesler Swamp
• Two frogs in Yesler Swamp
• Gorgeous spotted towhees - I got a much closer look at them this week
• Bushtits and the active nest I saw last week (saw the mom going in and out of the nest)...and I found another bushtit nest, now that I know what to look for, but I don't think it was active...it looked disheaveled
• Goldfinches
• Violet Green swallows
• Gadwalls
• Song sparrows
• Cinnamon Teal pair
• Red-winged blackbirds
• American Robins
• Canada Geese
• Two great blue herons
• The female osprey was still on the nest, but this time, I got to see the male flying overhead (very low) - first time getting that close underneath on osprey and he was beautiful!

We saw one other bird that we couldn't identify. The back looked like a finch, but it had just a small bit of yellow on its head. It was also really tiny...not much bigger than a bushtit. It was on the ground, looking for bugs, I imagine.

No sign of the male shoveler and the single duckling that I saw last week.