This morning Diane Weinstein, Sharon Aagaard and I met at 0800 to do the first monthly survey of the new Sammamish Commons Park on the Sammamish plateau. The following link shows a map of the area. http://www.ci.sammamish.wa.us/SammCommons.aspx?Show=Camera

It was a cold, 34, and cloudy day. But was surprisingly birdy. The ravine that the stairway goes down was very good. Numerous Golden-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, a Lincoln Sparrow, Brown Creeper and a Red-tailed Hawk that kept flying from tree to tree around the perimeter. There were 14 Mallards and some Red-winged Blackbirds in the wetland pond on the south side. The highlight of the walk was at the west end when a Merlin streaked by at tree-top level with an Anna's Hummingbird in pursuit. The hummer ended diving at the back of the Merlin which got away safely. The north side of the park had a number of Steller Jays, a Hairy Woodpecker, Pine Siskins. We had a total of 23 species in about one hour 40 minutes.

We also surveyed the QueensLake Bog in the Klahanie area. We had 16 species there in about one hour 35 minutes. The bog was frozen which kept the ducks out and the count down. The highlights there 13 Trumpeter Swans that flew over headed in an eastern direction. We also had three Anna's Hummingbirds there.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at earthlink dot net