Tweets - the morning was glorious, with Mt. Rainier shining to the south,
warm sun on the frosty ground, and plenty of birds. Round about 9:15,
dark clouds moved in on a cold breeze though, but there was no rain nor
any of the predicted "ice pellets" until after we were all done. In any
case, the first 2-3 hours were wonderful, and the rest wasn't bad. Nine
of us enjoyed the birds:

GREEN HERON Pair just N of RC dock
WOOD DUCK Pair flew up and down slough
Sharp-shinned Hawk Beautiful adult near weir
Red-breasted Sapsucker At least 5 sightings of at least 3 birds!
Yellow-rumped Warbler Quite a few sightings, Aud & Myrt.
Savannah Sparrows Back in abundance, a few singing

The GREEN HERONS had to be the highlight. The pair were about 10 feet
above the slough in a willow, preening. The male (distinguished by leg
color), was stunning and was making sure he looked that way. While we
watched, he worked over one tail feather, lifted each wing for
examination, finding little in need of adjustment, caught a flying bug
that happened by, then smoothed out a couple of feathers. All the while,
he was pumping his tail up and down, a move he continued while he sidled
closer to the female. She, meanwhile, was working over her breast
feathers, ignoring him entirely. He appeared to realize that one
shouldn't bother a female who's busy cleaning up. At one point, though,
she broke off a small twig and played with it in her bill for a while,
perhaps considering the suitability of such a twig for nestbuilding.

PIED-BILLED GREBES were feeling the spring rush too. One pair near Dog
Central made a variety of vocalizations and ritualized posings. Another
pair near the lake was too.

Quite a few birds were seen nestbuilding or carrying nesting materials.
AMERICAN ROBIN, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, and AMERICAN CROW had nest
materials. In addition to the BUSHTIT nest that was observed earlier, we
found two other nests under construction, one near the first footbridge,
one at the Rowing Club parking lot. RED-TAILED HAWKS were seen at the
odd-snag nest. We *think* we saw HOUSE SPARROWS at a nest hole at the
Rowing Club.

Singing birds included AMERICAN ROBIN, SAVANNAH SPARROW, SONG SPARROW,
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, BEWICK'S WREN, BLACKCAPPED CHICKADEE, MARSH WREN,
FOX SPARROW, HOUSE FINCH, WINTER WREN, and PURPLE FINCH.

There were quite a few TREE SWALLOWS, some of which seemed to be getting
territorial over perches, and at various times we had numbers of
VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS too.

The willows are beginning to leaf out, as are some of the alders and at
least one cottonwood. Many of the ornamental flowering shrubs and trees
are blooming. And perhaps 5% of the Salmonberry blossoms are open.

For the day, 56 species. Last Saturday's Greater White-fronted Goose, and
today's Wood Ducks bring the year total to 82.

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