Tweets - I never got around to posting last week, so this will have to do
double duty. The two weeks couldn't have been more different, with last
week being truly lousy weather (rain first, then wind), and today being
unexpectedly nice. Last week, while the species total was pretty good,
there was hardly a bird to be seen much of the time. It was almost boring.
Conversely, today we were almost always surrounded by birds (though there
was a long dry spell from the lake back to the mansion area, the mansion
area and the slough trail running south from the windmill were teeming with
birds). I also birded a bit last Saturday, Nov. 9, while my son had soccer
practice.

Combined Highlights:

American Wigeon 11/7 - 2 at Rowing Club
Canvasback Today - 3
Hooded Merganser Today - 5 at RC plus several more, gorgeous.
Cooper's Hawk 11/7 - flying west over slough
MERLIN Today - imm. bird landed at S. end of dog area.
Great look.
Wilson's Snipe 1-2 birds seen all three days
Mew Gull Large flock (100+) both weeks.
MOURNING DOVE 11/9 - 1 at compost piles. First fall/winter record.
BARN SWALLOW 11/7 - one over N. end of East Meadow.1st Nov. record.
Savannah Sparrow Still one bird, East Meadow, both weeks
WH.-THROATED SPARROW 1 tan-stripe bird seen each week. Details below.
Pine Siskin First large flocks of fall today (50+)

We had some problematic ducks today, but finally concluded that three
female-type ducks in the slough were Ring-necked, while the ugly male next
to them (inbetween plumages) was a Greater Scaup. Further up the slough we
had a pair of Lesser Scaup. On the Rowing Club pond were 11 Ring-necked
Duck, including a wide range of male plumages.

Last week, Brian Bell and Bruce Jones had brief looks at a tan-stripe
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW at the compost piles. It disappeared before any of
the rest of us could get a look. Today, I spotted one SW of the old picnic
shelter (south of the windmill but north of the dog-area parking lot), It
was in the scrub just above the slough flood channel. Today's bird stayed
around long enough for everyone to see (and some of us see well). The whole
area was filled with birds, including Golden-crowned Sparrows, a Lincoln's
Sparrow, and juncos galore. We decided one was a SLATE-COLORED JUNCO,
though not a dark male.

Last Saturday's MOURNING DOVE definitely did not fit the pattern for MODOs
at Marymoor. Out of 14 total sightings, 11 have been in the late-April to
early-June timeframe. The other two sightings were in the last week of
August and the second week of September. Never before had we had a sighting
between mid-September and mid-April, a period of seven months.

Totals - 50 species 11/7, 51 species today. Still at 134 species for the
year.

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