Subject: Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co., WA) 2004/02/11
Date: Feb 12 13:54:02 2004
From: Michael Hobbs - hummer at isomedia.com


Tweets - yesterday, nine of us enjoyed a most gloriously beautiful morning.
When I first arrived, the fields were frosty, the Cascade crest jagged and
sharp in silhouette, the pre-dawn sky was that dark almost-blue, the waning
moon glowed brightly but was outdone by Mt. Rainier peaking its head up
south of the lake. The sun finally poked over the ridge just at 7:30, as we
began our loop. Until about 9:00, we were bathed in sunshine, but then fog
blew in from the lake, obscuring our views for the next hour or so. But by
the time we got to the lake, the fog had burned off and it was sunny the
rest of the day.

The birds were gorgeous in the sun, and even if we hadn't seen any "good"
birds, we all would have been happy with stunning looks at common birds.
But we did have some "good" birds too:

American Wigeon Uncommon at Marymoor, 2 flying flocks
Sharp-shinned Hawk Very small adult(s), two sightings
MERLIN One flying N over W. Lake Samm. Pkwy
Red-breasted Sapsucker Two NE of mansion
Brown Creeper One near start of boardwalk
Northern Shrike 1-2 birds, seen hunting E. Meadow and north
of there
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 (Audubon's) flycatching from the Snag Row fence
Wh.-throated Sparrow Tan stripe bird seen 7:30 and noon at parkinglot
Purple Finch A few at S. end of Dog Area

Today when I went over to refill the hummingbird feeder, I walked some of
the East Meadow and found 2 WESTERN MEADOWLARK and 3 WILSON'S SNIPE. I also
saw a couple of STELLER'S JAYS, a species we had missed Wednesday.

For three of us, though, the highlight of Wednesday was a male COMMON
MERGANSER near the windmill, who swam slowly by us as it drifted with the
current, diving occasionally. It then turned heading upstream just below
us, and swam for a while while the sun sparkled off him. He then took off,
flying right past us upslough and around the corner. Awesome.

For the day yesterday, 53 species. Three more species today makes the
week's total 56 (assuming I don't go down again). For the year, the Merlin
and Yellow-rump were new, for a total of 74.

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