Tweets - we had a wonderful day at Marymoor, as the park was full of
migrants. The weather was only so-so, but it didn't rain and most of the
wind held off. The lighting was often difficult, however. In many places
throughout the park we came across mixed flocks of warblers, chickadees, and
flycatchers, with some finches and vireos, etc., added to the mix now and
then. The total diversity wasn't that amazing, nor did we have any
stupendously rare birds, but there was plenty to see!

Highlights:

California Gull Several out on the lake - First of Fall
Cooper's Hawk One over grass soccer fields, chasing an...
AMERICAN KESTREL One on grass soccer fields
BLACK SWIFT At least 9 flying towards the lake
Vaux's Swift Numbers well above normal
Western Wood-Pewee Had as many as 4 in one tree
Pacifc-slope Flycatcher Two (concievably one seen twice)
Willow Flycatcher Many more seen than during nesting season
Warbling Vireo 2-3
Purple Martin Two high over our cars, late morning
Orange-crowned Warbler A dozen easily - probably many more than that
Yellow Warbler At least 1
Black-throated Gray Wblr At least 3
Wilson's Warbler About half as many as OCWA
Western Tanager Lots of calls, lots of glimpses
Evening Grosbeak Flock of 20-25

The KESTREL was first spotted sitting on one of the soccer goal posts. If
flew around a bit, in a hunting kind of way, and then took off when the
COOPER'S HAWK came in full-bore. The two of them flew south to Snag Row,
where the Kestrel disappeared, and the Coop landed.

Yesterday afternoon, in a brief visit, I had two or three RED-EYED VIREOS.

The family of RIVER OTTERS was again seen near the weir - an adult with two
pups. Just below the weir there were lots of SALMON trying to navigate the
narrow channel.

Despite all that there was to see, we also had quite a few notable misses:
Hooded Merganser, European Starling, and Spotted Towhee (for the 2nd
straight week).

For the day, 53 species.

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