Tweets - what a nice day it was. There were 17 birders (if I managed to
count right), and sunshine, and birds. It was below freezing to start, but
the sun was out, and it wasn't windy, and it soon warmed up. Not a whole
lot of new birds back, but there was plenty to see!

Highlights:

Osprey 1 back, seen at nest and over mansion
Wilson's Snipe 2-4 below weir, 1 at Rowing Club
Barn Owl 2? young in nest box
Bl.-capped Chickadee Nest excavation underway at RC
Brown Creeper Building nest south of mansion
Northern Shrike Nice looks north of fields 7-8-9
American Robin Two nests found
Y.-rumped Warbler Several, both races
Dark-eyed Junco building nest near mansion
Western Meadowlark One near Compost Piles

A HAIRY WOODPECKER was seen on a short snag along the slough. While we were
watching it, a NORTHERN FLICKER landed just above the Hairy. There were
also at least 3 DOWNY WOODPECKERS in the immediate area, and maybe more.
Later, we had a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER at the Rowing Club to make a 4
woodpecker day.

There were two COOPER'S HAWKS circling over the Dog Meadow. One was
flapping with extremely deep wingbeats (wings going almost straight down
then almost straight up) in a moderate, deliberate rhythym that we had never
seen with a Coop before. It was clearly straining to gain altitude quickly.
The other was doing the more ordinary flap-flap-flap-glide, with relatively
shallow wingbeats. Later, we saw a Coop with what appeared to be a freshly
caught robin, east of the mansion. Perhaps because of our presence (though
we were trying to be good), it ended up leaving the uneaten carcass on a
branch and flying off. Presumably it returned later.

Quite a few WOOD DUCKS, singing SAVANNAH SPARROWS, nest exchanges for the
RED-TAILED HAWKS atop the odd-snag nest - lots of fun stuff.

Afterwards, I did a quick walk through the main loop solo, to see if we'd
missed anything the first time through. Things were MUCH quieter at 1:30
than at 7:00. The only things added on the bonus loop were seeing a BALD
EAGLE at the new (west) nest, a lone COMMON LOON very far out on the lake,
and a pair of NORTHERN FLICKERS caught in flagrante delicto.

For the day, 65 species. With the week's additions of Osprey, Common Loon,
and California Quail (reported by Martyn Stewart a couple of days ago), I
believe our 2008 list is up to 86.

And somewhat off-topic, there are some amazing photos of a Golden Eagle and
a fox at
http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?pic_id=komi1142612071&lang=eng.
The photos were taken in Finland, but they've been emailed around with a
subject line stating they were taken by a hunter in Montana, or in Colorado.
Regardless, the photos are worth seeing.

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