I've been enjoying the activity under the neighborhood feeders for the last couple of days. Along with the usual suspects has been a little group of Golden-crowned Sparrows, 2 male Towhees, a Steller's Jay, a Downy Woodpecker and, late this afternooon, the first Varied Thrush I've seen in the yard in a really long time.

Earlier in the afternoon I took the dog out for a long walk along Lake Washington between the Mt Baker Rowing Center and the Lakewood Marina. The little bay at the foot of 49th Ave So was filled with Wigeons, Coots, Gadwalls and Mallards, but alongside of them was a single male Northern Pintail, the first I've seen down here in a good 5 years.

At first glance the marina was filled with usual suspects, too - Buffleheads, Mallards, Gadwalls, Coots, Pied-billed Grebes. Then I noticed a couple of flashy male Hooded Mergansers in the mix, with their punky headed female companions nearby. Then a pair of Northern Shovelers, and a pair of Green-winged Teal, both of which I see rarely at this end of the lake. A group of Killdeer flushed from the shoreline, leaving behind a large thick wader with a ridiculously long bill. Common Snipe, I believe, from the visual weight of it, and the bold pale striping along its back. My records for Snipe at the marina are limited to March and April, so seeing this one was a treat. We started back up the shoreline, a little slower now, stopping by the beaver lodge where we startled a Great Blue Heron. There were a bunch of non-bird tracks in the fresh snow. My dog was particularly interested in one set that disappeared into an opening in a blackberry/willow thicket. Another group of Killdee!
r flushed from the lake edge, this time leaving a Western Sandpiper in their wake as well as a little group of kind-of nondescript sparrow-like birds with narrow pale tail coverts. Might these have been American Pipits? They bobbed up and down a lot and pumped their tails, but stayed just outside of good no-binocular observation distance. When I got too close they'd leap into the air and call "sip! sip!" then fly out over the lake before doubling back to land once again just outside of good observation distance.

With the exception of the possible Pipit, all of the birds I saw today were ones I'd seen along this stretch of lakeshore in the past. I've just not seen them all at the same time, ever.

In all, a really fine day.