Tweets - It must have been the combination of the rainy weather and the
earlier (6:00 a.m.) start time that kept the number of people down today.
There were only 6 of us, instead of the dozen or so in recent weeks. Too
bad, since this was our best day in a while. It was misty, with occasional
showers, but we never got rain until we were leaving the Rowing Club. What
we did get were birds.

Highlights:

Red-tailed Hawk Looks like 2 young on odd-snag nest
Barn Owl Matt had one in the East Meadow early
Mourning Dove 5th week in a row
BLACK SWIFT At least a dozen over the north end of the lake
Vaux's Swift A few with Blacks.
R.-breasted Sapsucker Nest exchange at snag just south of dog area
Hairy Woodpecker First of the year for Marymoor, 2 I think
Western Wood-Pewee Saw 1, heard 1-2 in Cottonwood Forest
Willow Flycatcher SAW my first of the year (heard last week)
WESTERN KINGBIRD THREE (3) seen (see below)
Tree Swallow Nest with eggs in box in East Meadow
N. R.-winged Swallow Two over slough near start of boardwalk
Black-capped Chickadee Bringing food to a nest in a snag in Snag Row
Brown Creeper Family group (5 birds), east end of the
boardwalk
Swainson's Thrush One good look, plus nice singing, many whits
Yellow Warbler Several nice looks at singing males
LAZULI BUNTING Female at Compost Piles
Bullock's Oriole First-year male in Cottonwood Forest

We had one WESTERN KINGBIRD in the East Meadow, and a few minutes later,
there were two moving from near the Compost Piles over to the model airplane
field. In between those sightings, we watched an amazing thing. For over a
minute, we watched an AMERICAN CROW *chase* a WESTERN KINGBIRD. They were
first noted well to the northeast in Snag Row. The Kingbird was trying to
flycatch from the top of the tree, but the crow kept chasing after it.
Finally, the Kingbird flew off, away from us, towards the mansion. While in
flight, the crow *continued* in pursuit. A couple of times, the kingbird
made feints at the crow, but the rest of the time it was clearly the crow
harrassing the kingbird. Now what's up with that?

Afterwards, I went to the lake viewpoint at 187th Ave and East Lake Samm
Parkway. From here, with a little work, you can see the top end of the
lake. (I could actually see only down as far south as 187th on the east side
of the lake, and maybe NE 40th St. on the west side of the lake, so we're
really talking just the northernmost half mile or less). I was able to
count THIRTY THREE (33) BALD EAGLES at one time, including at least 8
adults. This was right after the cloudburst that drove us from the Rowing
Club, and the eagles were on pilings and trees drying their wings.

Oh, we also had a COYOTE near the concert stage just after 6:00 a.m.

For the day, 63 species. Had several surprising misses, including
Pied-billed Grebe and Downy Woodpecker. Black Swift, Western Kingbird,
Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and Lazuli Bunting were new for the year,
bringing the 2006 list up to 123 species.

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