Tweets - contrary to last night's weather report, it did *not* rain this
morning. Not even a drizzle, though a few times there were a few drops.
There were plenty of birds, though few surprises. There were great views of
things, though, and a high species count.

Highlights:

Common Loon 1 on the lake
Green Heron A beauty near the weir
Northern Harrier 1 over south end of dog area
Wilson's Snipe 2 below weir
Band-tailed Pigeon 1 over Rowing Club
Cliff Swallow Only 2
Barn Swallow Only 1 or 2
Brown Creeper 2 near owl's nest
Orange-cr. Warbler Only 1, singing a wimpy song
Fox Sparrow Still 1 at Compost Piles
Lincoln's Sparrow 3 (2 at Compost Piles) Beauties.
Purple Finch Heard 2+

One of the strangest things I saw was during my pre-walk drive-through. On
the grass soccer fields, with a couple of Mallards, was a pair of WOOD DUCK
eating grass!

Speaking of MALLARD, there was a female with 4 young at the extreme north
end of the lake.

We could see two young GREAT HORNED OWLS on the nest, and an adult nearby.

We had many sightings of RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER: 1 or 2 at the start of the
walk, 1 near the Rowing Club dock (seen from the west shore), 1-2 near the
start of the boardwalk, including one which was drumming repeatedly, a pair
exchanging at a nest hole opposite the windmill, and one at the Rowing Club.
I think there were 4 total birds; certainly 3-6.

We also saw a pair of DOWNY WOODPECKER exchanging at a nest hole near the
start of the boardwalk, and a pair of NORTHERN FLICKER excavating a hole
near the mansion.

We watched a male AMERICAN ROBIN feed 3 young at the nest. We also saw a
SONG SPARROW bringing food.

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were ALL OVER, both Audubon's and Myrtle's types,
mostly males. I would guess we saw/heard 50, but that's a bit of an
arbitrary number.

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH were also very much in evidence, with lots of singing,
some pair interactions, and many gorgeous males posing.

We had a good mammal day, with a MUSKRAT and a RACCOON on the far shore of
the slough, in addition to the usual cottontail rabbit and eastern gray
squirrel. After the regular walk, I went over the the viewpoint from East
Lake Samm Pkwy, where one can observe the Purple Martin boxes (no martins
seen), and I saw a RIVER OTTER. There were many Red-eared Slider and
Painted Turtles at the Rowing Club Ponds, and 2 Garter Snakes [strangely,
both dead], and my first slugs of the year. Also, MOSQUITOES.

Earlier in the week, Grace and Ollie Oliver had an AMERICAN PIPIT at the
compost piles.

For the day, 62 species. For the week, 64. Last week added GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, BARN SWALLOW, and SWAINSON'S THRUSH. This week added the
Harrier. So the year total is up to 103.

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