Tweets - another late report. Wednesday was absolutely gorgeous weather.
That is, until 7:35 a.m. Our walk began with a stunning sunrise to the
east and a rainbow to the west. The weather went a bit downhill from
there, with showers (some of which might even have been called rain), and
quite a bit of wind. There were a few lulls, though. We started out with
eight people, but there was a bit of attrition along the way...

We did have some highlights:

We had a couple of sightings of GREEN HERON, including one in a willow a
bit above the weir that we all almost missed. They can be nearly
invisible when in amongst branches if they are motionless.

We had six HOODED MERGANSER on the Rowing Club ponds, including a male in
a shaft of sunlight that just took one's breath away.

A NORTHERN HARRIER was circling above the lake platform, apparently trying
to gain altitude on a wimpy thermal. Perhaps a migrating bird.

We had a brief glipse of what could only be a PEREGRINE FALCON at the east
end of the boardwalk.

I had the joy of having a VIRGINIA RAIL walk across about 6 feet in front
of me at one of the slough accesses south of the dog area. Unfortunately,
I was the only person who really got a look at the bird. Brian Bell, who
was standing right next to me, had his eyes on a flock of fast-flying
ducks, possibly Green-winged Teal, but they moved too fast and too
eratically to be sure.

At the rowing club, a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER was pecking holes in the
western-most weeping willow. On our way out, a RBSA was perched on the
very top twig of a Doug Fir, bending the twig over with it's weight. It
was right out at the tip, and it did not seem to be feeding. I have no
idea *why* it was there, but it stayed for at least a minute.

We had a brief glimpse of what were presumably VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS. The
weather was really bad at the time, but they were definitely white-bellied
swallows (*not* Barn, Cliff, or Rough-winged). There is a really odd
pattern in the distribution of fall swallows at Marymoor which leads me to
believe that there is a migratory group from somewhere to the north that
comes through in week 41 every year.

Houston Flores had sharp eyes Wednesday, and spotted at BROWN CREEPER at
the south end of the dog area (among other good spottings).

We failed to find Lincoln's Sparrow or American Goldfinch, but we still
managed 52 species for the day.

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