Tubb Lake is really a bog due to its lack of good drainage. This last week of rain has extended its surface and I scrambled along to avoid flooding and downed trees. My quest was to walk around the lake and document the birds I found for the GBBC (Great Backyard Bird Count) which is this weekend.
I came across a few birds plus the stray crow or two as I walked around. Then I got the treat of my adventure… birds galore foraging on or near the rugby field to the northeast of the lake.
First it was the Robin’s who were everywhere. They amazed me in their huge flock and then to my delight to the right I saw the blackness of a crow murder. My eye saw some smaller birds which I thought might be more robins but no…it was about 20 Dark Eyed Juncos.
As I moved out of the forest edge I disturbed everyone on the ground and they fled to the trees. The crows gathered in a tree on the south end of the field.
That was when a large airplane came in for a landing. I was really in the flight pattern and not far from the airport. That is why this park exists. It was a regular neighborhood with two schools and stores built in the 40s thru the 60s. Then in the 70s it was all purchased by the Port of Seattle due to the growth of the airport. You can still see the streets, sidewalks, cement slabs and plants left behind. Kind of a good example of how nature takes back from man after only a few years.
Then I got the great shot of the lake from my vantage point. Tubb Lake survives despite all the things we have done to the area around it. In the 40s & 50s car parts and oil was disposed of there and recently homeless encampments flourished. Today it was just another lake for water fowl and birds. Port of Seattle and City of SeaTac have cleaned up all the hazardous litter and no more scary people wandering around in the bushes.
The winter tamed the blackberry bramble and made the view possible. Another fine day of rambling around in the woods and finding adventure.
Crows of Arroyos 