Hi Tweets

Michael was out of town, so Matt and I got to substitute for him yesterday. The day may have dawned sunny somewhere else, but not at Marymoor. We had heavy fog in until at least 11 AM, for quite a while you could not see the other side of the river. The last part of the day cleared and was quite pleasant.

The highlight of the day occurred while we were sorting through a group of small birds in the cherry trees near the river. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (immature) zoomed in looking for a meal. You have never seen a small group of trees clear out so fast, but a few birds didn't make it. The hawk landed and scanned the branches, then moved to the edge of the trees. We quickly became aware that a BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE was frozen on a branch about 8 feet away from the hawk. The Sharpie was looking in all directions, but didn't seem to see the chickadee. We then became aware that at least 3 other birds were similarly frozen in position - two YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and another chickadee. We watched for at least 25 minutes, studying the Sharpie minutely from quite close - the bird didn't react to our presence. Finally our original chickadee either moved slightly, or the hawk finally saw it and made a dive toward it. The inexperience of the hawk was evident as the chickadee successfully moved out of the way, and all the other birds departed for the nearby berry patches. The Sharpie and a lone chickadee were the only occupants of the clump when we finally continued our walk.

Song was way down, but not absent or we would have had a tough time finding the birds that were present. A good number of SPOTTED TOWHEES and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS were there. A VIRGINIA RAIL sounded off from a ways below the weir (we couldn't have seen it for the fog if it had been 15 feet away). In spite of the fog we had 5 raptors for the day - a BARN OWL early, an adult and later immature COOPER'S HAWK, the SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, 3 RED-TAILED HAWKS (one being mobbed in the distance by crows), and an adult BALD EAGLE. There were two nice groups of geese on the fields near the cricket pitch - both CANADA and CACKLING GOOSE- intermingled for easy comparison. The Cacklers finally took off and obliged by calling. GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS were either all over Marymoor, or the same flock followed us all morning.

Birds of note:
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Wilson's Snipe
Barn Owl
Orange-crowned Warbler
Winter Wren
American Pipit
Cackling Goose

A RIVER OTTER was in the tree patch near the soccer fields - we figured it took a left turn in the fog and was lost. We also saw a RACCOON, a bunny and the usual EASTERN GRAY SQUIRRELS.

All in all a good day, and 51 species in spite of the fog.

Brian H. Bell
Woodinville WA
mail to bell asoc at isomedia dot com