Blustery morning as a Pineapple Express roars our way (according to the
weather service). Gusty, but fairly warm and no rain. Despite the wind, we
had some notable sightings:

Common Merganser 10 females at the weir again
Northern Harrier Immature *
Sharp-shinned Hawk TINY male going for siskins
American Bittern Near old beaver lodge **

* Northern Harrier were visible almost weekly in the winter up through the
winter of '96-'97. Last winter we had only four sightings. This was our
first sighting of a Northern Harrier for this winter. The bird was a
beautiful red-orange color on the breast.

** Our first sighting of American Bittern since August 14, 1997, and only
our second November sighting. The beaver lodge is on the far side of the
slough between the dog area and the lake platform.

Little birds were hard to come by, except for 200 or so Pine Siskin. Still,
we managed 33 species for the morning.

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