Hello Tweets --

I went of on a leisurely and delightful stroll just by the light of the full
moon (no artificial aids except for a headlamp in the few dark spots) last
night at the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, urban 'eastside' King
Co., just for the exercise and to listen for owls and to squeeze a walk in by
moonlight before the weather goes into the pooper again. Weather was calm,
mostly clear (very high & very thin barely perceptible overcast), temperature
~45F, for the 2-1/2 hour walk covering 3-1/4 miles round trip between 6:06
(late dusk) - 8:36pm, starting at the Redtown trailhead (Redtown Trail) to
Ballpark Meadow (3/4 mile), Indian Trail to the north boundary (7/8 mile) and
retracing the route back to the Redtown trailhead and carpark.

Owls heard:
Western Screech (2)
Great Horned (1)
Barred Owl (2)
Northern Saw-whet (3)

All in all, the walk was pretty quiet and unsolicited activity wasn't too
intense. More like a 'tuning-up' exercise for a month or two from now
perhaps. A Screech Owl was heard right off at the Redtown trailhead carpark
at both the start and the finish of the hike. Barred Owls were heard far off
in the distance to the west, early on giving only the final 'whooa' note and
later an occasional first half of a full call. Saw-whets were generally
tooting very softly and for very short periods ranging from a couple of
'toots' to intermittent tooting periods of no longer than a minute or two.

All four owls can be easily heard along the first segment of this hike, also
the easiest walking in the dark btw, between the Redtown trailhead and
Ballpark Meadow. Beyond Ballpark Meadow it was more quiet. Maps of Cougar
Mountain are available at the Redtown trailhead carpark and information board.

After a pit-stop at the Eastgate Dairy Queen for my mandatory large chocolate
ice cream cone, I briefly walked and listened in areas around Lake Sammamish
State Park (Long-eared and Barn Owl locations) and adjacent west slope
hillsides to the east (9:15 -10:45pm) but all of these areas came up zero by
sight or sound.

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)