Tweets - on what should have been one of the best days to bird Marymoor,
according to the calendar, today was somewhat quiet and, well, weird. Eight
of us met under partly sunny skies, but there were always dark clouds either
overhead or nearby. There were moments of excitement at the start and the
end, but much of the middle was a frustrating sleeper.

Highlights:

Green Heron One flew towards lake early
Bald Eagle Abundant again, giving good shows
American Kestrel? Looked like one at least, flying west
Wood Duck 16 at Rowing Club
Cinnamon Teal Megan saw a drake at the weir
Common Merganser Quite a few, seen quite often, quite well.
California Quail 2 near east entrance early. Only see these
occasionally.
Red-breasted Sapsucker 3 seen, including 1 maybe entering nest hole?
Warbling Vireo Several heard. Bruce, only, saw 1, only
N. R.-winged Swallow 2 near windmill checking out muddy bank
Yellow Warbler Heard one near start of boardwalk
Wilson's Warbler Several heard, only 2 seen
Western Tanager Great look at one male at RC dock
Black-headed Grosbeak Several of the transparent race, invisibilis
Bullock's Oriole Nice male in cottonwoods at Dog Central
Purple Finch 3-5 very high up a cottonwood eating seeds

Before we even got to the slough, we got to watch an adult BALD EAGLE flying
around with legs dangling below. Eventually we realized they were probably
attachted to a Coot clutched in the eagle's feet. Another adult eagle was
following the first. We got distracted from them by the flyby GREEN HERON,
and by a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER flying up to the tree next to us.

The day was frustrating because of bad, or more often non-existant sightings
of many species. Brian caught sight of a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER; no one else
saw one for another 4 hours. We heard a total of probably 20 individual
warblers and vireos, and saw just seven of those (and two of those seven
were seen only by one person each). We only managed to find 2 Black-headed
Grosbeaks, despite them singing all around us. For BAD looks, I can mention
the small falcon flying away looking very KESTRELISH, but providing nothing
more than 3/4 rear views. The PURPLE FINCH across the slough, at the top of
the tallest cottonwood, partially obscured by the foreground trees would
also qualify.

The Rowing Club pond made up for some of that. When we first arrived, there
were 9 male WOOD DUCKS. When we returned from the dock, we found eight of
those nine, plus a female Wood Duck with six small ducklings.

Winter birds are all gone, it seems. No Golden-crowned Sparrows,
Bufflehead, Cormorants, etc. And still no Western Wood-Pewee, Willow
Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, or Swainson's
Thrush; all birds we've previously seen this week in other years.

For the day, 57 species. Nothing new for the year, except a maybe-Kestrel.

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