Hi Tweeters -

This morning Mary Frances Mathis and I birded at Juanita Bay Park in
Kirkland. It was cold but clear when we arrived. We had a nice flock of
Bushtits, Golden-crowned Kinglets and chickadees at the entrance parking
lot. As we walked out to the central boardwalk/platform we had a nice
dark morph Red-tailed Hawk fly by. Part way out the boardwalk we had
looked back and a Merlin had just landed in a conifer. It obligingly
stayed there long enough for us to get good scope looks. The usual gang
of coots was on the bay, a big flight of American Wigeon came in, with
Gadwall, Northern Shoveler and a Eurasian Wigeon. We were attracted to a
somewhat different gull, and after study of the bubblegum pink legs, the
flattish but somewhat rounded head, the mostly dark eye and the very
limited amount of dark on the underside primaries were pleased to have a
Thayer's Gull.

About this time the fog rolled in and stayed the rest of the morning. We
found some Northern Flickers walking along the west boardwalk imitating
thrushes, Downy Woodpeckers, the mixed flock we had earlier, as well as
Spotted Towhee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Fox Sparrow in the blackberries.

Across the road at Forbes Creek we had nice looks at kinglets, Bushtits,
towhees, Song and Fox Sparrows. As we came into the wettest part of the
area we had a different sparrow pop into view for a couple of seconds.
It was highly colored and did not match any of the usual sparrows. We
worked the area over and eventually got very nice looks at a Swamp
Sparrow with its bright reddish wings,clear chin, and somewhat grayish
face. This was definitely the high point of the morning.

Good birding

Brian H. Bell
Woodinville Wa
bellasoc at isomedia.com