Tweets - it was a lousy day - clouds, blowing mist most of the morning,
gusts maybe up to 10-15 m.p.h. Couldn't find more that about 5 Song
Sparrows, only 3 glimpses of Spotted Towhee, and no House Sparrows or Rock
Pigeons. The median number of individual birds per species was 4. That all
said, it was a great day! Really.

Highlights:

Barrow's Goldeneye Female at the lake platform
Bald Eagle Female eating coot near nest;
adult hunting coots at lake
HERRING GULL First confirmed sighting at Marymoor
GLAUCOUS GULL First winter - first ever at Marymoor
Anna's Hummingbird Male definitely on territory south of windmill
Belted Kingfisher First of 2007, on slough
Northern Shrike On a bush north of grass soccer fields
Brown Creeper 3-4 on a single Doug Fir near the mansion

This was only our 7th sighting of a BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, but this was the 2nd
week in a row for the species. Last week was a fly-by male, this week was a
female, probably first-winter.

The pair of BALD EAGLES was near the new nest, and the female (based on
size) was eating a coot draped over the branch of a cottonwood quite close
to the trail. The little feet dangling down made ID of the prey easy.
Later, when we got to the lake, we watched an adult Bald Eagle hovering and
making swipes at a tight ball of AMERICAN COOTS. The coots mostly just
flapped their wings, but otherwise remained motionless. They didn't dive
and they mostly didn't try to flee. Apparently the mass of wingflapping is
an effective defense.

When we first arrived in the morning, there were a few gulls on the grass
fields near where we park. We were searching through them for RING-BILLED
GULL (there were a few among the MEW GULLS and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS).
There was also a larger black wing-tipped gull at the far end of the field
that I first thought was probably our usual, singular, WESTERN GULL (he
showed up later). But the head was dusky, and yet it didn't look right for
a GWGUxWEGU hybrid. The more I looked, the more I got suspicious. "Guys,
this wouldn't be a Herring, would it?" We got out a scope, but even so, it
was too far to tell. However, after having walked halfway across the field,
we were able to get decent, confirming looks. Previously, we'd had only one
very uncertain maybe in mid-October, 2004. So it was very nice to add this
species to the park list!

After our whole loop, plus the swing around the mansion, as we were
returning to the cars, I saw the Western Gull on the road. Behind our cars
were more gulls, some obviously larger than Ring-billed or Mew. I suggested
that we should scan the gulls before leaving to see if the Herring was there
again. Scan we did, but no Herring. But my eye was drawn to a large
immature gull. "Um, guys? Could this be a Glaucous?" Matt looked and
told me, in no uncertain terms, to go fetch my scope. Through the scope
there was no question, and a couple of looks in short flights also added to
our certainty that it was, indeed, a first-winter GLAUCOUS GULL - not a gull
any of us had expected at Marymoor.

The Marymoor gull list is now at 10 species, though 4 of those have been
seen only one or two times.

Ollie spotted the NORTHERN SHRIKE north of grass fields 7-8-9 after the rest
of us had passed by that area. I'd been pretty sure we *wouldn't* see a
shrike today, because of the wind. I guess I shouldn't assume.

We also got to see a very cool, very fast, very low, direct flight of an
adult COOPER'S HAWK, which winged maybe 150-200 yards along a ditch and into
Snag Row. We'd seen quite a few AMERICAN ROBIN, EUROPEAN STARLING, and
DARK-EYED JUNCO in the snag area where the Cooper's was aimed, but it came
up empty and landed in the Pea Patch.

For the morning, 55 species, with three added to the year list (HERG, GLGU,
and BEKI) for a total of 81.

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