Tweets - This had better serve for the last two weeks, as I didn't get around
to posting after last week's drenching.

The first hour and a half last week featured threatening weather and the worst
birding ever. We had only about 15 species all the way to the lake. Then the
rain started in earnest and the birds came out - we just couldn't see them very
well.

I was there again on Friday and birds were abundant in the sunshine.

The weather was decidedly better today, though there was a fog/cloud layer that
kept light levels pretty low (along with temperatures).

Certainly, over the last few weeks, there has been a large change in the birds
around here. Gone are just about all of our summer birds, and some of our
winter birds are back.

Highlights from the last couple of weeks:

Green Heron 1 on Friday
Wood Duck Very pretty in the slough
Osprey A couple of sightings on Friday
Cooper's Hawk Beat us to the birds today
Turkey Vulture 2 at about 4 p.m. on Saturday, 9/22
Common Snipe 2 at the weir today
Violet-green Swallow Many last week over the lake, none since
Barn Swallow Many last week over the lake, none since
Golden-crowned Kinglet Increasing numbers over the last 3 weeks
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 last week, several today
Brown Creeper 2 wet birds last week
American Pipit? May have had a small flock today
Bl.-throated Gray Wblr 1 last week
Yellow-rumped Wblr Several on Friday, more today
Common Yellowthroat 1 male today - 4th latest date
Fox Sparrow More than 5 today - great looks
Western Meadowlark 2 in East Meadow today

We had all 8 sparrows that are common at Marymoor today - Song, Fox, Lincoln's,
Savannah, White-crowned, and Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and
Spotted Towhee.

We still haven't had many duck species though - still just Mallard, Gadwall
(missed today), Wood Duck, and Hooded Merganser. Gulls have been sporatic too,
with no large flocks yet.

All told, we had over 30 species last week in TERRIBLE weather, just over 40
species today.

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