Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co.,
Date: Feb 2 15:32:04 2005
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at verizon.net


Tweets - what a difference a week makes! Today, especially this morning
before 9:00, was VERY birdy. I think people sensed this, because almost all
of us were working our way through the park separately from about 7:00 to
7:30, the official start time this morning. It was cloudy (really pretty
clouds) but rather warm this morning, and it gradually cleared to the sunny
and summery of this afternoon. I've got lots of highlights to share:

Sharp-shinned Hawk Across from Dog Central. Small. Male?
Western Gull Nice looker with usual MEGU, GWGU, etc.
Barn Owl Brian Bell had 1 near windmill ~7:10
Anna's Hummingbird One at office feeder, 1 at Rowing Club
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1 east of mansion at 7:30, motionless, plump
Northern Shrike Ho hum. Again, in the same place.
Winter Wren 1 singing quietly at east end of
boardwalk
Varied Thrush 1+ singing LOUDLY near mansion at 7:30
SWAMP SPARROW Seen well just below (north of) weir at ~8:00
Wh.-throated Sparrow Ho hum. Again, in the same place
Western Meadowlark Four in East Meadow

Ollie and Matt also had a COYOTE east of the mansion early, and there were
turtles (Red-eared Sliders and Painted Turtle) both in the slough near the
windmill and at the Rowing Club pond

The SWAMP SPARROW was seen about 20 yards below the weir working through the
Reed-Canary Grass about half-way between the trail and the main channel,
moving closer to the channel as we watched. We first caught just a glimpse,
but Brian and I both thought "Swamp", so we stayed and waited. A minute
later, it came out for a good view, hopping about for close to a minute. I
find the colors on Swamp Sparrow so incredibly distinctive that even a
glimpse is sufficient for a tentative ID to be made. This one had a really
nice bluish-gray head with red stripes, and very red wings. The breast was
also blue-gray and only very faintly streaked. This is the second time
we've had Swamp Sparrow at Marymoor - the first was November 14, 2001, at
the compost piles.

We had a few, or maybe several, CACKLING GOOSE with Canadas in the
gravel-and-grass parking lot near the turn-off to the dog-area parking lot.
These led to a lot of discussion, as I'm pretty sure the CACGs that were
there were neither "minima" nor Aleutian races, but one (or more) of the
closer-to-Canada races. There were also many small Canadas, so there were
many birds that we did not feel comfortable calling one way or the other.
We need some help here!

A nice drake RING-NECKED DUCK at the Rowing Club pond was so close and so
well-lit that we could clearly see the dark chestnut neck-ring that gives
that species its name. There were also a few GREEN-WINGED TEAL looking
pretty in the sun, and southwest of the boathouse we flushed a WILSON'S
SNIPE.

We had one female ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD at the feeder at the office (small
house) just north of the mansion, and we had another female at the Rowing
Club. This second Anna's was gathering spiderweb silk from the trunks of
the maples in the parking lot, and flying over to the cedars behind the
house across the street. We figure she must be building a nest back there.
The house has a hummingbird feeder.

After everyone left, I stopped just east of the foot of 50th St, a bit north
of the Rowing Club, where sparrows can be found. I didn't find many, but I
did find a LINCOLN'S SPARROW, to give us 9 sparrows for the day. (I was
hoping for a SAVS to make an even 10, but no luck). A RED-TAILED HAWK gave
several screeches then took off from a cottonwood near the river, circling
over the meadow and river calling loudly to its mate. When it called
especially loudly over the west side of the weir, a VIRGINIA RAIL gave it's
chortling startle response.

So for the day, we had 58 species and a great time.

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