The morning started dark and dry, and ended up dark and wet. But the
birding was good.

The best sighting was a GREEN HERON, rather late if you ask me. In was
along the slough, just downstream from the rowing club dock. The *other*
best sighting was a BEAVER in the slough, just a minute later.

Other notables:
Common Loon 1 at the lake
Red-tailed Hawk At least 4, almost certainly 5, and
maybe more!
Western Meadowlark 1 near the softball fields on the north
side of the access road.

The path continues to be flooded (6") just before you get to the boardwalk
as you walk south along the slough, though the water level is down quite a
bit from last week. The woods near there have not been great birding
lately, so I was walking through rather rapidly thinking of other things and
humming to myself. As I approached the flood, I thought I saw somebody and
I stopped and looked. There, standing in the middle of the flooded path
about 25 feet ahead of me, was a Great Blue Heron! We stared at each other
in amazement for close to a minute, then the GBH flew off, knocking branches
with its wingtips on its way out. Fancy meeting you here...

All told, 41 species in 3 hours. Threeof the last 10 species I saw were
Song Sparrow, House Finch, and European Starling -- it's a strange morning
when you get a December Green Heron 2+ hours before a a starling.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== MJCT_Hobbs at msn.com