[Tweeters] Marblemount finches at salt-lick

[Kevin Lucas]

Gary,

Perhaps related:
Finches have for years gathered at a spot on the Maloy dirt road to 
Barbecue Flats where the old Bass driveway cuts off not far from Wenas 
Creek. It's a place where I've guessed that the plow / road salting trucks 
turn around, and I suspect spill salt and calcium chloride & grit & such. I 
like to stand there and watch the finches getting whatever they get. They 
gather similarly at the junction of Maloy, Audubon, & North Wenas Roads. 
The finches aren't always as concentrated there. There's more room for the 
plow trucks to turn around there.
Just my entertaining theory.

Good Birding,
https://www.aba.org/aba-code-of-birding-ethics/
Kevin Lucas
Yakima County, WA

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On October 7, 2021 5:05:27 PM Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Dear Tweeters,

> Today, the seventh of October, birding was relatively slow in the Upper 

> Skagit Valley. It was a beautiful day, though, and there were several spots 

> where one could view large numbers of spawning sockeye salmon. Here and 

> there, Corvids and Glaucous-winged Gulls were feeding on the carcasses. 

> At Ranger Station Road, I was treated to a flock of Pine Siskins and Red 

> Crossbills. Most of these birds were at a salt lick. In the more northerly 

> of the two mule pastures, there is a trough, fed by a continually dripping 

> hydrant. I think that the dripping is intentional, but am not sure if 

> that's what the NPS had in mind. This is north of the Ranger Station 

> itself, next to an area where old, discarded equipment is stored.

> Beside the trough is one of those plastic, bucket-like holders, made to 

> hold a mineral block or salt lick. It looked as if quite a few large 

> tongues had worked over this salt lick over the past few months. The 

> Siskins and Redpolls spent little to no time on or near the mineral block 

> itself. However, they crowded around the ground at the base of the holder, 

> where there was some standing water. I was not sure if the birds were 

> drinking the salty water, or perhaps gleaning little bits of mineral that 

> might have fallen away from the block. The birds allowed me to approach 

> within four meters, as I took partial cover behind a gate.

> I use similar mineral blocks for my goats, and I don't remember ever seeing 

> birds showing any interest in them--not even my chickens. I have seen 

> finches foraging on old fire pits, apparently eating charcoal, but I cannot 

> remember ever seeing them at a salt lick before.

> Yours truly,

> Gary Bletsch

>

>

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