Tweets - this morning I set out to duplicate some of the success Gene Hunn
had earlier this month in the Snoqualmie Valley. I succeeded beyond my
wildest dreams. I might have found everything I was looking for if I hadn't
run out of time. Highlights:

First, if anyone is wondering where the VARIED THRUSH are this winter, it's
on the eastern slope of the Snoqualmie Valley. Driving up the roads to Lake
Joy and Lake Langlois and other places around there, Varied Thrushes were
everywhere. Hundreds. They were total trash birds.

A NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL returned my whistled toots at Moss Lake. I actually
tried tooting in the parking lot and at the lake with no success, but when I
got back to my car, which I'd had to park outside the locked gate, I got a
response from up the hill. I managed to get distant views, but the owl
refused to come over and investigate. I also had a RIVER OTTER at the
frozen lake. The gate was unlocked on my way out; I guess they open it
sometime between 9:00 and 10:00, or whenever...

At nearby Lake Joy, I had several dozen RUDDY DUCKS, and a couple of
hard-to-see RED CROSSBILL.

Carnation Farms had a large goose flock that comprised CANADA, CACKLING,
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED (at least 4) and SNOW GOOSE (1). There were also two
TRUMPETER SWANS. Adjacent Sikes Lake had many ducks (11 species). At the
far end there was a male EURASIAN WIGEON in with hundreds of Americans.

On NE 32nd St., just south of Carnation, there was a small flock (which grew
to about 60 birds) of TRUMPETER SWANS. As I was scoping them, I began to
notice some blackbirds, and then found the bulk of the blackbirds in a
nearby cottonwood. Scoping the tree, I found the female YELLOW-HEADED
BLACKBIRD that Gene reported earlier.

As I was about ready to head on, I saw a procession of children on what was
clearly a school field trip. They were walking down the street towards me.
They passed my car, and then they all lined up at the fence to look at the
swans. I quickly got my scope lowered, and everyone got to have scope views
of the swans. The students (Carnation Elementary, 3rd or 4th graders, I'd
guess) and the teachers were quite appreciative. An adult BALD EAGLE flew
overhead, and a COOPER'S HAWK took on the ROCK PIGEONS while the kids were
queuing for the scope, so I think they had a successful outing.

One of the teachers/chaparones (who reads Tweeters, BTW) mentioned that the
swans had spent the night at nearby Lake Langlois, at the end of 24th St,
southeast of Carnation. I'd only been there once before, but at her
suggestion, I made the lake my next stop. There were hundreds of ducks,
mostly MALLARD but quite a few other species, along the shore, and still
perhaps 200 TRUMPETER SWANS. Scoping from the fishing access, I found 1 or
2 TUNDRA SWANS with them, my only Tundras of the day.

Neal Rd., which stubs off from 203 just across the bridge from Fall City,
produced a very nice mixed flock of zonotrichia sparrows that included a
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, as Gene had earlier reported, and a beautiful male
"SLATE-COLORED" JUNCO. This was at a farm just before the last stream
crossing before the end of the road.

I pretty much raced over to Carnation Marsh, and had almost no time to look
for things there, but I did have a NORTHERN SHRIKE in the field just south
of the marsh. I'm pretty sure a PILEATED was working the trees far to the
east.

No sign of the Rough-legged Hawk previously reported by Joyce Meyer, and I
couldn't find Gene's Redheads (the field ponds were all frozen and duckless
except for decoys). Other than that, I saw every one of my target birds.

Oh, and the sunshine and snowclad mountains were beautiful!

Between 9:00 and 1:30, I tallied 58 species.

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