Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co., WA) 2005-09-28
Date: Sep 28 15:26:02 2005
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at verizon.net


Tweets - eleven of us met this morning at 7:30. It was sunny, but with a
bit of patchy fog that didn't interfere with our birding. There were plenty
of birds early on, though diversity wasn't so great. Then it got pretty
quiet for a while before the excitement started.

The excitement occurred at the Compost Piles. We were, unfortunately, down
to just 4 people as several people left just before we perused the piles.
Matt Bartels was asking me about field marks for Chipping Sparrow when he
suddenly interrupted my response to say "Look at this sparrow". Just 25
feet in front of us was a beautiful CLAY-COLORED SPARROW. Brian Bell and
Ollie Oliver were also there to see it - we got a good 10 minute view in
great light at close range. Fabulous. This is the first CCSP we've had at
Marymoor (though I incorrectly reported an American Tree Sparrow as CCSP a
few years ago).

The Compost Piles are located just east of the Interpretive Lot (I think
there are signs to the Interpretive Trail that would lead you to this lot,
the easternmost of the two Dog Area parking lots). There's a pile of sand,
some heaps of dumped stuff, etc. The sparrow was initially seen at the
north end of the piles, and was later seen by Grace and Ollie Oliver near
the large pile of sand.

Other highlights:

Green Heron Adult just north of Rowing Club dock
Double-crested Cormorant First of fall
TURKEY VULTURE Two seen east of the park
Mourning Dove MaryFrances saw one at the Compost
Piles
Black-throated Gray Warbler Male at east end of boardwalk
Western Meadowlark Six in East Meadow (seen just before CCSP)

It was a good day for raptors, with a rather late OSPREY, an adult BALD
EAGLE, a NORTHERN HARRIER seen in the early morning by Matt, a SHARP-SHINNED
HAWK near the mansion as we started out, several looks at COOPER'S HAWK, and
of course several RED-TAILED HAWKS.

One highlight of the day was a spectacular view of an AMERICAN GOLDFINCH
eating sunflower seeds from the head of a flower at the Compost Piles. Oh,
to have had a camera! Not all great sightings are of rare species...

For the day, 59 species.

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