Subject: Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co., WA) 2/28/2001
Date: Feb 28 11:57:16 2001
From: Michael Hobbs - Hummer at isomedia.com


Tweets

Another gorgeous morning at Marymoor - sunny, though frosty, with no wind.
Very pleasant, and several highlights:

EURASIAN G.W. TEAL Male at Rowing Club
Belted Kingfisher 1st female in many months
TREE SWALLOW 1 bird flew down the slough
Western Meadowlark 3 in East Meadow

Folks, the Eurasian Green-winged Teal is an absolutely beautiful bird! I've
never seen one before, and the difference in appearance from the American is
very evident!

The Rowing Club area is accessible off West Lake Sammamish Parkway just north
of 48th St. Go in through the south gate in the chain link fence and park.
Follow the gravel road towards the slough; the pond is on the north side of the
gravel road. This area is part of Marymoor Park, so you're not trespassing on
Rowing Club land.

This was just our third February TREE SWALLOW for Marymoor; the previous
sightings for the month coming on 2/16/96 and 2/20/97.

We were right down near the Rowing Club dock when the EARTHQUAKE hit. I was so
busy trying to figure out why the birds were going nuts that I didn't recognize
it for a quake until Brian called out "Earthquake!" All the crows, herons, and
many of the ducks started making alarm calls and taking frantic flight. The
quake was really quite strong where we were, and lasted *at least* the 45
seconds reported for the quake. I was rather worried about it being a really
severe one until Brian reminded me that we were standing on saturated peat
soils next to the slough, and we were probably getting the worst of the
shaking.

Hope everyone else got through the quake OK.

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