Subject: Marymoor Park Report (King Co WA) 3/29/2000
Date: Mar 29 12:25:41 2000
From: Michael Hobbs - Hummer at isomedia.com


Hi Tweets

Well the first Wednesday trip was very good. I was joined by three birders,
and by about 8:00, the fog burned off and we got some sun. We also had some
birds:

Common Goldeneye Awful looking male
Cooper's Hawk? Huge immature
Rufous Hummingbird At least 4, incl. male and female
Northern Shrike 1 in East Meadow
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT Male. Earliest sighting ever.
Savannah Sparrow First week with quite a few
Western Meadowlark At least 2 in East Meadow, singing softly
Purple Finch Notable because singing.

The goldeneye appeared to be gaining his first breeding plumage, perhaps, and
looked absolutely terrible.

The Cooper's Hawk was soaring over the boardwalk area. To my eye it looked
huge, and I ponder whether it might have been a Goshawk instead. It seemed a
slightly different shape than I'm used to for Cooper's, with wings more like a
redtail a less pronounced head extention. But Goshawk would be highly unlikely
at Marymoor I would think (unless it was migrating and using that thermal for
lift).

Just past the first footbridge there was a female Rufous Hummingbird, with a
male doing display flights right over her head. There was another hummingbird
soon after the boardwalk, and a male in the south end of the East Meadow.
March 29 is a late first-sighting-of-Spring date at Marymoor. It is quite
possible that we either missed RUHU last week, or that they arrived over the
weekend.

Previous early date for Common Yellowthroat at Marymoor was April 2, 1998.
Joyce spotted this gorgeous male on the far side of the slough. He was
especially cooperative, giving us many frontal views, often reflected in the
mirrorlike waters. A real treat.

There were many Tree Swallows between the Rowing Club and the lake, and more
swallows over the lake. After the fog lifted, there were perhaps 300
Violet-green Swallows over the slough, the dog area, and the East Meadow.

All told, 47 species.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== hummer at isomedia.com
== http://www.scn.org/rec/fomp/birding.htm