Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co., WA) 2008-05-15
Date: May 15 19:09:26 2008
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at verizon.net


Tweets - I think there were 16 of us this morning, including more than a
dozen bright and early for our 5:30 a.m. start time. The weather wasn't
this afternoon's heat and sun, but was rather humid, with heavy overcast.
The wind didn't pick up until late, which left the thick clouds which made
the light dim and flat. Birds were around, but not always easy to see,
especially with the big group.

Highlights:

Wood Duck Female with 4 babies at lake
Bald Eagle Adult on "new" nest
Western Wood-Pewee Good looks in Cottonwood Forest
R.-breasted Nuthatch Frequent food deliveries to nest
Brown Creeper Seen at the nest we thought abandoned
Yellow Warbler They're back - but didn't want to be seen
Western Tanager Managed looks at 3
Black-headed Grosbeak Even the females seemed bright
Bullock's Oriole Present, but seen only by a few
Evening Grosbeak Seen well in ash trees at Rowing Club

The biggest excitement was at the lake platform. At the very end of April,
I installed two plastic gourds for PURPLE MARTIN right near the lake
platform. Nine days later, Graham sent me a photo showing a female in one
of the gourds. So we were eager to see for ourselves today. When we
arrived, there was a martin in one of the gourds, and Tree Swallows hanging
out by the other. After watching (and listening to) the martin for several
minutes, four other martins flew in. Soon there were five martins flying
around the lake platform. When we left, a pair of martins was sitting on
the crossbar being buzzed by an annoyed Tree Swallow. Later, there was a
pair of martins feeding over the East Meadow, and later still there was a
pair of martins feeding over the Pea Patch gardens. So the presence of the
gourds seems to be attracting martins to the acccessible parts of the park.

For history, martins nested in boxes at the northeast corner of the park in
the 1970's. I don't think any martins at all were seen at/near Marymoor
from about 1980 until about 2003, when Kevin Li placed some new martin boxes
on the old pilings. They nested there the year he put the boxes up, and we
saw occasional martins the next couple of years (though I don't think we saw
evidence of nesting). Since then, we've had only perhaps one sighting a
year, during the post-breeding period. We've speculated that these were
birds from Juanita Bay Park in Kirkland, or some other nesting location. It
would be great if the gourds could mean we see martins regularly at
Marymoor.

The second big excitement was east of the mansion. We heard a COOPER'S HAWK
calling from a deciduous tree. We finally managed to relocate the nest, and
saw the female standing atop it. She flew to the deciduous tree, where we
watched her eating what appeared to be a juvenile robin laid out on a wide
branch. While she was eating, we saw the male fly to the nest. Very cool.

For the day, we had 66 species.

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