Tweets - The morning dawned foggy, so for the first two hours we were
hampered by the dim and the murk. It was clearing as we got to the lake
platform, and the rest of the day was sunny and warmish. Ten of us were out
(though there was some coming and going of birdwatchers), and we enjoyed a
pretty good day:

Highlights:

Pied-billed Grebe Spring-like pair chatter
WOOD DUCK Pair seen briefly twice
Red-tailed Hawk Pair interactions apparent
Virginia Rail Male heard -- dok didok didok...
Wilson's Snipe One flew out from near weir
R.-breasted Sapsucker One east of mansion - CLOSE
Northern Flicker Noisy F-M-F triad near start of boardwalk
Northern Shrike Flycatching in East Meadow
TREE SWALLOW Two seen several times (same 2?)
Also seen MONDAY
Brown Creeper 2 east of mansion - checking out nest site?
G.-crowned Kinglet Some amazing crown flashes
R.-crowned Kinglet Non-stop singing all over
Fox Sparrow Probably more than a dozen
Lincoln's Sparrow 1 at Compost Piles
Wh.-throated Sparrow Tan-stripe bird with GCSPs near weir
Western Meadowlark A bunch (9+) in East Meadow

We came across a great mixed flock east of the mansion that included
siskins, both kinglets, a Downy Woodpecker, the creepers, both chickadees,
and the Red-breasted Sapsucker. The sapsucker stayed about 2 feet up a
large tree as we walked up to within about 12 feet. It remained the whole
time we were searching through the flock, and as we drove out about an hour
later, it was still on the same tree, though it had moved to the other side.

We also had a MUSKRAT at the weir, a COTTONTAIL near the windmill, the usual
E.G. Squirrels, both RED-EARED SLIDER and PAINTED TURTLE at the Rowing Club,
BULLFROGS there too, and an earsplitting chorus of PACIFIC TREE FROGS from
the southeast (natural) pond at the Rowing Club.

Salmonberry remains mostly in bud (still just 1 plant blooming), Indian Plum
at or past the height of blooming, Tall Oregon Grape just coming into bloom,
willows all abloom. Non-natives, such as E. Hawthorn, Forsythia, and some
of the cherries and/or plums are blooming.

For the day, 55 species, for the week 57. We're averaging 47 species and 8
birders each Wednesday so far in 2004, and 49 species a week. For the year,
the Wood Duck, Virgina Rail, and Tree Swallow are new, for a 2004 year total
of 78 species

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