Tweets -

Matt and I got there early and enjoyed a fiery sunrise. For a while, that
seemed like it might be the highlight of the day. Eleven of us were out
there this morning, under thin, high overcast. There was no wind, so the
temps in the 40s didn't feel that cold. But it was QUIET.

Yesterday evening, just a few minutes after 5:00 p.m., I was able to watch a
BARN OWL and a SHORT-EARED OWL chase each other around the east edge of the
East Meadow. Matt and I were hoping for a repeat performance this morning,
but no such luck.

The regular walk was very quiet until we came across a large mixed flock
just before the start of the boardwalk. More quietness followed.

Some of the quiet might be attributable to some of the sightings we did
have:

Sharp-shinned Hawk One small adult on west side of river
Cooper's Hawk Immature near Pea Patch, again near Compost Piles
Merlin Flyby downstream from Dog Central
Northern Shrike Immature in the middle of the Dog Meadow
Long-tailed Weasel Near the dog-area portapotties

We did have a couple of other notable sightings beyond these:

Hooded Merganser SIX at the Rowing Club pond
R.-breasted Sapsucker 1 in that mixed flock, 1 near windmill
Pileated Woodpecker Flew right over our heads at the dock
Brown Creeper Amongst the mixed flock at the boardwalk

Several sightings of Chestnut-backed Chickadee filled in a statistical
oddity. This week was the only week of the year in which we had never seen
CBCH. It has now been recorded in all 53 weeks of the year. No surprise,
but nice to fill in the data. Almost all sightings of this species have
been in the Doug Firs near the mansion; it has only been in the last 3-4
years that we have been including the mansion area in the weekly walks.

OK - that's really about it. We did manage 52 species for the day.

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