I poked around Lake Sammamish State Park (LSSP) near Issaquah this morning
(Jan.02) in search of the Long-eared Owl but came up empty handed. No sign
that it or any other owls had ever even been in the pine grove where the Long-
eared had been seen on 11/08 and 12/20. No pellets, no white-wash. The Barn
Owls are being seen occasionally at night when some attentive birders shopping
at COSCO across the street happen to be there and just by chance happen to see
and/or hear one flying around over Issaquah's Pickering Place shopping area.
If the Long-eared is still in the area, it may be hiding elsewhere or it may
still be well hidden in the pine grove. One has to very methodically search
every tree and every branch and from every angle. However, the lack of
pellets and white-wash is not very encouraging. The Barn Owl roost has yet to
be rediscovered as well, with the last reported usage in the pine grove
observed back in January 1997 right after the ice and snow storms decapitated
and damaged much of the grove. There are plenty of other evergreens and
conifers for the owls to hide in but some of those clumps are safely embedded
out of reach deep in the impenetrable bramble thickets. If the owls are in
those places, I guess there they shall stay and remain undetected in peace.

LSSP was rather quiet this morning (0830-1100hrs). I finally got around to
exploring the Hans Jensen Youth Camping area, across the road (east side) from
the boat launch along East Lake Sammamish Parkway. I love predicting where a
'good' bird will show up one day... and then, eventually it does (e.g. Long-
eared Owl in the pine grove at LSSP). The Hans Jensen section *will* one day
host a Great Gray Owl!! :-)) This is such a classic perfect place and habitat
for this wintering vagrant to the Seattle metro area to just drop into, I can
hardly stand it! It just reeks and smells of a Great Gray Owl; of one to come
or one that might even already be there! It might be tomorrow, my next visit,
or it may be 10, 20, 50 years from now, but the Great Gray Owl *WILL* be there
one day. It's definitely worth anyone's time to have a little look around
there. There should be Saw-whet Owls there for sure and probably a Dipper
from time to time along Jensen Creek. All these things I predict and fully
'expect' to come to pass eventually.

On the puddled soccer field, I got a really good look at each and every one of
those 550 American Wigeon -- not a Eurasian in the bunch! What's going on?!
The Dunlin flock there with the wigeon and Green-winged Teal had grown to 180.
The highlight was probably before I even got to the park this morning. While
waiting for the light to change at the LSSP offramp off I-90, a Peregrine came
swooping through the intersection, running the red light and obviously on some
kind of emergency mission. This was the first Peregrine that I've ever seen
in the area.

There are a couple of all black-necked Canada Geese (i.e. no chin strap) among
the resident roving flock of Canada's which often hang out on the soccer
fields across from COSCO along NW Sammamish Parkway bordering the south side
of the park. They are beauties, quite striking, and have been around for
several years.

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