Tweets - despite the weather report calling for morning rain, it was very
pleasant at Marymoor this morning. We had no more than about 20 drops of
rain, just for a minute while we were at Dog Central. The rest of the
morning it was mid-50's, broken overcast, even a bit of sun, and no wind.

It was also birdy, especially early. Unfortunately, there were huge numbers
of birds, but not huge numbers of species. Still, it was pretty good.

Highlights:

Western Grebe First of Fall, 1 well out on lake
Green Heron Juvenile at weir, 2nd sighting at RC
Bald Eagle Adult seen briefly at lake
Cooper's Hawk Juvenile in Snag Row (see below)
MERLIN 1 flew quickly south over East Meadow
American Coot More than a few for the first time this fall
MOURNING DOVE Near Pea Patch (see below)
R.-breasted Sapsucker 1 NE of mansion
Lincoln's Sparrow Large numbers (8-10)

Early on, we were surrounded by robins, waxwings, Yellow-rumped Warblers,
and Golden-crowned Sparrows, with a smattering of other species thrown in.
Despite searching through a bazillion birds, we didn't turn up anything
notable, though we did get good looks at Fox and Lincoln's Sparrows.

At the Pea Patch, we were watching the Cooper's Hawk in Snag Row, trying to
figure out if it could be a Sharpie instead. We moved closer and closer
(though we were still nearly 100 yards away), when it suddenly flew from the
snag, coming down and somewhat towards us. And then we could see a MOURNING
DOVE frantically trying to escape. The dove had come off the ground, I
think, and was nervously looking over its shoulder as it flew. It did
escape, and the hawk flew off to the east to try for something else.

So all the scrutenizing we did couldn't find something unusual at Marymoor,
but the Cooper's did it for us.

For the day, 54 species.

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