We marched forth this morning on a rather cold, grey day that was notable in that it was neither raining nor particularly windy. I
was joined by Brian Bell and Cathy Hornbein.

We had nice looks at lots of the common species, and there were also a few highlights among the 42 species seen and heard.

There have been two Hooded Merganser near the weir most weeks this winter. In my notes I had marked them down as two females,
although sometimes I had my doubts. However, today one quite clearly showed a white stripe at the bottom of his hood, and we really
began to question whether it might be a young male. The NGS guide does not show first-winter males, but in "Ducks of North America"
by John Gooders there is a picture of a first-winter male that looks very much like what we saw.

We had at least two and maybe three distinct flocks of Bushtits, as well as a flock of 10-15 Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

As we came out into the east meadow, I remarked to Brian and Cathy that I had seen a Northern Shrike there last week. I scanned the
area, sniffed the wind, gauged the situation, and declared that we probably wouldn't see one today though, as things just weren't
right. At that precise moment, one flushed from the base of a bush not ten feet away, and flew to the top of the next tree. So
much for my intuition.

On the nest behind the model airplane field were two adult Bald Eagles; one in the nest and one next to it.

Finally, I walked just a bit around the mansion, and found two female Yellow-Rumped Warblers (both Audubon's race) and a female
Townsend's Warbler.

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