Tweets - Some people arrived early, I arrived late, some left before I got
there, but all told, ten of us went out for a very nice day today at
Marymoor under cloudy skies that didn't do much more than threaten to mist
on us.

It was a particularly birdy day, and I missed some good stuff early on
(though I had some good stuff later to make up for it).

Highlights:

Green Heron 2, with lots of sightings of them
Wood Duck 3 males, 2 females on RC ponds
Osprey Pair at nest
Cooper's Hawk 1 immature, probably female
Wilson's Snipe 7 a bit below the weir
Band-tailed Pigeon 1 bird perched until flushed by Cooper's
Great Horned Owl Pair at the nest, calling. Male had a rabbit.
Red-br. Sapsucker 2 in snag row near Pea Patch
Hairy Woodpecker 1 male near entrance bridge
SAY'S PHOEBE 1 about 2:30 at north end of East Meadow
Brown Creeper 1 seen, 2+ more heard
Orange-cr. Warbler 1-2 south of East Meadow
Bl.-throated Gray W. 1 male near first dog swim area (flew west)
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
Brewer's Blackbird Pair near velodrome restrooms late

We saw the off-white-backed American Robin near the entrance bridge.

There was a flock of 6 GREAT BLUE HERONS that flew in from the east high up,
then circled down and dispersed along the slough.

There were lots of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (both Audubon's and Myrtle's) and
several male COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, making for a 4 warbler day.

I went over the the East Meadow after everyone left and met up with a
birding couple who had their scope pointed at the Osprey nest. We were
standing near the snag row, and as we were talking, one of the Osprey flew
over our heads and broke a small branch off one of the cottonwood snags
right behind us. He only got about an 8"
long twig, but he dutifully carried it back to the nest. Later we saw one
with a fish.

I also went over briefly last Thursday, 4/1, and had 5 species we didn't
have today!

Pileated Woodpecker 1 flying west over East Meadow
Northern Shrike Imm, seen both Thursday and Friday
Cliff Swallow 1 over East Meadow
Winter Wren Heard 1 near east end of boardwalk
Purple Finch Heard 2 near east end of boardwalk

I had my first Osprey sighting on Friday, 4/2, when I saw 1 on the nest.
Our previous earliest spring sighting was April 9 in 2003.

This was our earliest spring sighting of Band-tailed Pigeon, beating out
April 9, 2003.

My Friday sighting of Northern Shrike (4/2) is one day later than our
previous latest spring sighting, April 1, 1999.

This was only our 3rd spring sighting of Black-throated Gray Warbler, the
other dates being April 27, 2001, and May 14, 2003.

This was only our 2nd spring sighting of Brewer's Blackbird, the other being
on April 8, 2002.

For the day, 65 species. For the week, 70. New for the year: Band-tailed
Pigeon, Pileated Woodpecker, Cliff Swallow, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and
Brewer's Blackbird, for a 2004 total of 99.

It was a good day.

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