Linda and Tweeters- Varied Thrush are just very uncommon at Marymoor. We have them sporatically through the winter at our house, 2 miles west of Marymoor and about 300 ft. up. I think this winter was unusual in how few VATH came down to the lowlands.

Marymoor has very few conifers. Those that are there are mostly concentrated around the Mansion area, and they are all limbed up. Some of them are not native species. I think the combination of extremely low altitude and a lack of conifers makes for a rather undesirable location for Varied Thrush.

We've had 11 records, 9 in fall and now 2 in spring. The fall ones are mostly confined to October. The pattern, both in spring and fall, suggests that VATH happen upon Marymoor during times when they are moving around, rather than being a place they stay in.

BTW - we've had quite a few Red-breasted Nuthatches at our house, but even though we've been birding the mansion area this year, we've only had RBNU there once in 2003.

= Michael
----- Original Message -----
From: LDavey at aol.com
To: hummer at isomedia.com ; TWEETERS at u.washington.edu
Cc: steven at pinelakefilms.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 7:10 PM
Subject: Re: Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co., WA) 4/9/2003 (long)


Michael,

What a fantastic day at Marymoor. We really enjoy your reports, and this one was a doozy! I'm curious about your comments regarding the Varied Thrush, as it seems this was a very unusual sighting. Are they uncommon this time of year, or just typically not found at Marymoor?

We had a Varied Thrush show up in our yard about a month ago (which my husband promptly caught on film.) We saw it on and off over the next week or so, but after that, we have seen it nearly every day. We see it so often, in fact, I've decided there may be two of them. In the three years we have lived on Pine Lake, this is the first time we've seen a Varied Thrush on such a consistent basis.

Red-breasted Nuthatches seem to be more abundant this year, and we have enjoyed watching one particularly industrious little gal carve out a condo that must surely be the envy of the neighborhood. :)

I look forward to your comments, and those of others who care to share their thoughts on and experiences with the Varied Thrush.

Thanks,

Linda Davey
Pine Lake, Sammamish, WA