Tweets -

I'd had visions of being able to cross-country ski to Marymoor today, but the
night's snow melted faster than it fell. Marymoor itself was almost 100%
devoid of snow this morning, and it was moderately warm. It was also dark,
with a heavy mist, somewhere in-between a cold fog and a drizzle, that blew in
your face and down your neck. The wind wasn't too bad, though it was best if
you didn't face south. It was also dark. Did I mention that? Dark. Still,
Brian and I had a pretty good walk.

The water level is back up to 4.7 feet at the weir, which translates into 8-10
inches of water over the trail just north of the west end of the boardwalk. We
should have worn tall boots; we wore warm ones instead and had to go around.

Highlights:

Common Merganser First of 2002, nice male at weir
Cooper's Hawk Adult and subadult
Hairy Woodpecker 2 across slough south of Dog Central
Brown Creeper Great close look at S. end of Dog Area
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 really showing its crown at RC, many others.

The adult COOPER'S HAWK was a large, bright, contrasty bird, which was eating a
meal atop a tall cottonwood east of the boardwalk.

We found the subadult at the compost piles, perched low. As we made our way
west towards the dog area parking lot, the young Cooper's kept up with us, just
beating us to the Pea Patch. So much for seeing any sparrows. It perched in
one of the large cottonwoods there, and we gave it a wide berth so as not to
flush it.

As we approached the dog area parking lot, a male house finch took off from a
small conifer and flew *towards* the Pea Patch. The Cooper's made it's move,
dropping in a long glide aimed at the finch. The finch made a U-turn and
headed back towards the conifer. But instead of landing and taking cover, it
flew *around* the tree, making a 90 degree turn. The Cooper's followed right
on his tail, not flying particularly fast, but faster than the finch. A second
later, the finch realized that the Cooper's was breathing down his neck and he
tried a quick evasive move, but the Cooper's tracked it perfectly, and nabbed
the poor finch about 20 yards north of the conifer, and about 6 feet off the
ground. It's the first time I've ever seen the moment of kill with an
accipiter.

Needless to say, with two Cooper's actively feeding in some of the prime
locations, we came up a bit short on our bird list today. We had to settle for
42 species, with the Common Merganser raising our 2002 list to 65 species.

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