Tweets - Eleven of us enjoyed a great birdy morning at Marymoor today.
There was a touch of ground fog and some fog over the slough early on, but
it quickly cleared to glorious sunshine. And there were birds galore,
although the species diversity was not *that* great. We spent hours pouring
through flocks of chickadees, bushtits, and warblers trying to get good
looks and checking for something "special". We never got any rarities
today, but we got LOTS of looks at a lot of different birds. It was also
great because amongst the 11 birders were a couple of newbies - one from
Renton and one from Edmonds - plus a gentleman from New Zealand!

Highlights:

Green Heron One adult, 1 juvenile, seen several times
Anna's Hummingbird Several sightings, 3+ individuals
Rufous Hummingbird One chased by an Anna's in Dog Meadow
Hairy Woodpecker Male giving great looks south of Dog Central
Western Wood-Pewee Still several calling from the Cottonwood Forest
Willow Flycatcher Abundant - migrants?
Pac.-slope Flycatcher One in large Ash tree at Rowing Club
Warbling Vireo A couple amongst warbler flocks
Brown Creeper 3+. Often on twigs, not trunks ?!?
Swainson's Thrush 2, one a juvie (other unclear). First in 3
weeks.
Orange-crowned Warbler Conservatively, I'd say we saw at least 8
Yellow Warbler Lots - Huge range, from yellow to entirely
gray
B.throated Gray Warbler Beautiful male seen well, west edge of Dog
Meadow
Western Tanager Heard and glimpsed. Finally saw 2 well.
Black-headed Grosbeak Quite a few after not having any for 2 weeks
Brown-headed Cowbird Juvie following those WESTERN TANAGERS

For the second time at Marymoor, I was able to get a response from a
VIRGINIA RAIL by crushing a beer can that a fisherman had left at one of the
fishing access points along the slough. Crunch - "Ka Ka Ka Ka"

The OSPREY are still active around the nest and out to the lake.

We had only one SAVANNAH SPARROW and only four EUROPEAN STARLINGS, and had
to settle for heard-only NORTHERN FLICKERS. AMERICAN GOLDFINCH numbers are
well down from recent weeks, though there were still at least a dozen.

We're mostly down to BARN SWALLOWS, still abundant (over 100), but we did
have 2+ VIOLET-GREEN and 1 CLIFF SWALLOW, as well as 2+ VAUX'S SWIFT.

For the day, a TON of birds comprising 56 species.

Yesterday, Brian Bell had a male AMERICAN KESTREL, new for the 2005 park
list. It flew east over the East Meadow.

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