Tweets - oh, what a wonderful day to walk around for the morning. It was a
cool 52 degrees when we started out, and Mount Rainier was glowing orange
above the fog over the meadows. Glorious. The day warmed from there to the
low 80's, so we were shedding clothing as we went. Our progress was very
slow as we all felt it was a good day just to be outside; no need to rush.

The birding was good too.

We started with an adult COOPER'S HAWK which flew north and landed in Snag
Row, where it posed for us. Very obvious black cap.

Next was a WILLOW FLYCATCHER adult feeding a fledgling. WIFL are very
obvious singers at Marymoor, but actual evidence of breeding has been scant,
so this was nice to see. We also found two SWAINSON'S THRUSH, at least one
of which was a juvenile. Again, we haven't ever actually witnessed much
breeding evidence of SWTH, but this year we found a nest and now some
fledged young.

On the lily pads next to the cattails just upstream of the weir, we found
the SORA again - 4+ weeks at that precise location. Also at the weir was a
spotless SPOTTED SANDPIPER. They have been scarce at Marymoor this year.

Two male BELTED KINGFISHERs chased each other around for 10-15 minutes near
Dog Central.

It was a good day for warblers, with two male WILSON'S WARBLERS, a male
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, a glimpse of an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, a
YELLOW WARBLER seen from the boardwalk, plus many COMMON YELLOWTHROATS for a
five warbler day. I also had one WARBLING VIREO.

Swallow numbers are dropping, and many of those remaining are juveniles,
which makes ID somewhat tricky. But besides the abundant BARN SWALLOWS, we
managed to find a few CLIFF and TREE SWALLOWs, two or three VIOLET-GREENs
and 2 NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS. Roughies are not that common at
Marymoor, and don't breed anywhere in or near the park to my knowledge.

The big cottonwood forest was full of WESTERN WOOD-PEWEEs - by far the most
I've ever seen/heard at Marymoor. Conservatively, I'd say we had 10-12.
Also in the woods was a lone WESTERN TANAGER, the first of fall. One or two
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK were also seen. We also saw a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER
near the start of the boardwalk.

I spied a couple of OSPREY on the nest early. Later on, we saw one fishing
over the lake and three circling over the SE corner of the park. This
year's two young may well be flying now, and learning the joys of thermals.

Besides birds, we had one of the best looks we've ever had of LONG-TAILED
WEASEL, near one of the benches at Dog Central. Later, when we were on the
Rowing Club dock, we saw a RACCOON swim across the river. We also saw some
fish in the slough - rather long and thin with a bold line running from
below the eye to the tail - possibly some kind of DACE.

A good day, with 56 species seen.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.scn.org/fomp/birding.htm
== birdmarymoor at verizon.net