Tweets - Eight of us headed out under cloudy skies that threatened rain, but
never delivered. It was a strange day for July, as we had a couple of
surprises. This time of year can be somewhat stagnant.

The bird of the day was a SORA(SORA) found by Melinda Jones in the lily pads
at the weir. This was just our 3rd ever sighting of SORA at Marymoor (our
other sightings being April 11-12, 2002, and August 22, 2002. This SORA
appeared to be an adult, though it looked closer to the "Adult non-breeding"
in Sibley than to the "Adult breeding", despite the notation that breeding
plumage should last until August.

Our second surprise came at the end of the day. We had a male
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER (BTYW) in the twin weeping willows that span the
path just east of the ponds. We all thought a BTYW was an unusual sight at
Marymoor in June. But when I got back and looked at my data, an unusual
twist was discovered.

We've had BTYW from early April through mid-May, and again from mid-August
through the end of September. The only sightings outside this range are one
November sighting, and TWO sightings from this very same week in July -
7/10/1997 and 7/14/2004. Both of those earlier sightings were a bit
uncertain (birds not seen well). But if we were right before, might it
indicate some pulse of BTYWs at this season?

Other highlights:

Green Heron Adult on west side of slough
Pied-billed Grebe Nest at lake platform now has 5 eggs
Osprey Two adults and two almost-feathered young
at nest
Anna's Hummingbird Adult female in Pea Patch
Yellow Warbler These have been hard to come by. 5+ today.
Wh.-crowned Sparrow After weeks without, 5+ young and 1 singing adult
Bullock's Oriole Female feeding juvenile below weir

Misses: - we failed to find Killdeer, Band-tailed Pigeon, Rufous Hummingbird
(though we did have two unidentified hummers chasing each other that were
probably RUHU), and Downy Woodpecker. These should all be at Marymoor this
week, based on past experience. Oh well, you can't see everything.

Maybes: - Besides the possible RUHUs, I had a glimpse of what I think was a
CASPIAN TERN. I might also, maybe, possibly, have heard a yellowlegs. I
was sure enough that I heard a RED-EYED VIREO that I did put it on my list,
but it was a bit fleeting.

For the day, 55 species. For the year, the SORA brings us up to 128
species.

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