Tweets - before we had even assembled this morning, several of us were doing
a drive-through looking for rarities, and Ollie Olliver spotted a SNOW
BUNTING. Apparently, the bird flew up from in front of Brian Bell's car and
landed alongside the drive to the Interpretive Lot. At about 7:20, four of
us had gathered to look at this beautiful bird, which sat calmly eating
(clover, I believe) from the frosty lawn. Mike West scooted over to the
usual starting location at the Dog Area parking lot, and brought back those
waiting there. All together, 12 of us were able to watch this bird, which
remained in one place for about 45 MINUTES.

My camera wouldn't work (batteries too low), but a camera man (not otherwise
a birder) was snagged, and he borrowed my lens and photographed the bird.
He then gave me batteries so I could take some photos too. It was a life
bird for most of us, as well as a new bird for the park list. What a start
to the day!!!

Sometime around 8:00, a crow swooped low over the bunting, which flushed.
The crow appeared to be in pursuit for a while. The bunting made two large
circles overhead, before landing in the grass soccer fields to the northwest
(just out of view). We were thus able to see the striking wing pattern in
flight.

At this point, we decided that we really must actually start the regular
loop. Given that we were at the other parking lot, we decided to do the loop
backwards, which threw me for a loop somewhat, as it were. Anyway, the
morning was absolutely gorgeous, with frost, bright sunshine, blue skies,
and no wind. We ended up with a good species count (which turned into a
great species count later -- see below).

Highlights:

Green Heron Two seen from dock at Rowing Club
Bald Eagle Two flying northeast (seen by Joyce Meyers)
Cooper's Hawk Immature at compost piles on our return
Wilson's Snipe One on far side of slough near Dog Central
Brown Creeper Two in deep woods
VARIED THRUSH Male near boathouse at Rowing Club
Lincoln's Sparrow One or two at compost piles
Savannah Sparrow One or two at compost piles
Western Meadowlark One in East Meadow
Brewer's Blackbird Two males and a female at start of trail
Purple Finch Still a few eating ash seeds
Pine Siskin 6 or 7 near weir

Because the sun was in our eyes, we were not able to see the birds on the
lake well from the lake platform. I have gotten permission to occasionally
bird from the cabana at the condos visible from the platform, so after our
Rowing Club visit, I headed there for 10 minutes with my scope. There were
plenty of ducks:

American Wigeon 2 females
Green-winged Teal 2 females
Northern Shoveler Many
Ring-necked Duck 2 females
Canvasback 1 male, 2 females
Greater Scaup About 6
Lesser Scaup 1 or 2
Mallard, Gadwall, Bufflehead, Coot, Canada Goose - in abundance

For the day, 61 species. For the year (adding Snow Bunting and Varied
Thrush), 133. My unofficial Marymoor species list (starting 1990) is now at
163 (with an astonishing 9 new species in 2002 - can we hit 10???)

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