Tweets - at around 10:30 this morning, we got a reprieve. The rain picked
up a bit, and the wind died down a bit, and we actually got to see some
birds. Much of the rest of the day, in 20-30 mph winds, there wasn't much
to see. Under clouds and faint drizzle most of the morning, it was kind of
quiet. Yet by the (early) end of the morning, we had managed a respectable
52 species:

We had a bad look at a GREEN HERON south of the weir, and much later, a
great look (possibly of the same bird) from the Rowing Club dock. Both
Monday and today the bird was on the shore right next to the dock. We also
saw a Green Heron flying with a twig east across the dog meadow in the
general direction of Swamp Dog Bridge, near where we had nesting evidence
last year.

We had two male and two female WOOD DUCKS (new for Marymoor for 2005) in the
overgrown south pond at the Rowing Club.

Early on, we saw a RED-TAILED HAWK sitting atop the odd-snag nest, but later
in the morning, the nest was empty for an extended period of time, so I'm
not sure if there are eggs up there yet or not.

We had some gull diversity, if not lots of gulls. In a flock of about a
dozen, we had one RING-BILLED, one MEW, two WESTERN, and the rest were
GLAUCOUS-WINGED.

Several WILSON'S SNIPE flushed from the natural pond at the Rowing Club.

Early on (pre-6:30), Matt saw a BARN OWL north of the windmill. Around
6:30, Ollie saw one in the meadow at the foot of 51st St., west of the
slough. 6:30 is quite a while after sunrise, and even longer after First
Crow.

We observed a female RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD at the feeder on the park office
house, and later, saw a female come in to the nest in the Rowing Club
parking lot. RUHU were heard briefly at one or two other spots where males
tend to hang out.

We watched 2 AMERICAN CROWS bringing sticks to a dense cedar southeast of
the concert stage - when one saw us watching, he nonchalantly carried the
stick to the ground, dropped it, and slowly walked away.

Quite a few VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS were seen over the meadows and over the
lake. Identity of most swallows seen was obscured by the weather, but all
that we could ID were VGSW.

The two BUSHTIT nests we observed being built last week are much bigger this
week. No activity was noted at either one, and neither nest seemed
finished.

We actually saw a WINTER WREN in the cottonwood forest; often we only hear
them distantly.

We had a nice look or two at 1-2 LINCOLN'S SPARROW at the Rowing Club.

At least 1 WESTERN MEADOWLARK was still around in the East Meadow.

For the day, 52 species, followed by a trip to Victor's Coffee in Redmond
for bowls of soup.

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