Ruth Longoria/The Olympian
Debby Clucas (left) watches a bird during Saturday's bird walk with the Black Hills Audubon Society. Kristin Stewart is in the background.

Audubon outing puts birdwatchers in a fowl mood

Lone eagle, lots of ducks on display at Tumwater park

RUTH LONGORIA, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published December 9, 2001

TUMWATER -- It was nice weather for ducks but a bit damp for the handful of avid birdwatchers who sloshed through the wet sod to observe them Saturday.

The waterfowl enthusiasts picked their way through trails at Tumwater Historical Park as part of the Black Hills Audubon Society's Bird Walk.

The field day was a follow-up to a lecture and slide presentation Wednesday at The Evergreen State College by society member Burt Guttman.

"Mostly we're just out for a day of fun, but we should be able to see some interesting birds," Guttman said at the start of the day.

Kristin Stewart, the chapter's field trip chairwoman, said the trip was one of many such activities offered for South Sound birdwatchers.

Good place to start

Although they saw a bald eagle soaring across the sky and a few chickadees flittering in the trees, many of the birds observed Saturday were varieties of ducks, which are a great starting point for novice birdwatchers, Stewart said.

"It's better to start with water birds because they are bigger and don't move so much and you don't have to know the songs to identify them," she said.

Debby Clucas, 49, of Olym-pia participated in the field day because she enjoys seeing the ducks on Capital Lake.

"I love the winter birds. They're gone in the summer," she said. "I've been away from birding for a while and I want to get back into it, and this is the way to do it."

Bob Kirchhoff, 62, moved to Lacey last year after retiring as a mechanical engineering instructor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Kirchhoff enjoys participating in winter activities in South Sound, even if it rains, he said.

"I mean, this is December. Where I'm from, it would be freezing. But this is why I moved here. This is wonderful," he said.

Gaining knowledge

Carla Wulfsberg, coordinator for Henderson House Museum, participated as a way to learn more about the birds that fly and flock around the museum, which is above the park.

"Look at that male hooded merganser preening himself," Wulfsberg said as she eyed a duck through Guttman's telescope.

Learning the names of birds is the first step in becoming familiar with them, and it helps people become more interested in birdwatching, Guttman said.

But knowing the names doesn't necessarily mean you know about them, said Ann Berry, 67, a resident of Lacey's Panorama City.

"The next step is, so what do you know about the bird? Is it a diving duck? Is it the ones that migrate?" Berry said.

"The more questions you can answer about them, the more you begin to know them."

Ruth Longoria covers Tumwater for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5435.

To learn more

For more information on the Black Hills Audubon Society, call 360-352-7299 or go online to www. blackhillsaudubon.org.

On the Web:

- Black Hills Audubon Society

- Audubon-Washington!

- BirdLife International

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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