Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co., WA) 2008-11-20
Date: Nov 21 08:57:38 2008
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at verizon.net


Tweets - after a truly amazing sunrise and about an hour of good birding, we
got completely hammered by the weather. First were puffs of really warm
wind - maybe 60-65 degrees, with sudden darkening of the skies. You could
tell the weather was about to flip. At 8:30, it began to drizzle for a few
minutes, and then the wind and the rain hit, and the temperature plummeted.
It was not a real squall - it was not that sudden, nor were the winds that
high, nor was it over quickly.

After a couple of days of nice weather, this must have felt to the birds
like something they could ride out. The birds simply disappeared. We
continued walking around for two more hours, completing our loop in record
time. There were NO BIRDS TO SEE or hear. I think we went an hour without
a single bird in flight - no crow, no robin (okay, maybe a gull). We ended
up skipping the loop around the mansion and went straight to the Rowing
Club, which was duckless (except for Mallard), but seemed a bit more
sheltered, perhaps, and did provide a few birds to end the morning with.

Highlights:

Brian Bell reported a GREAT HORNED OWL crossing West Lake Sammamish Parkway,
I believe just south of SR-520.

Matt and Scott had BARN OWLS near and in the windmill, and WILSON'S SNIPE
calling all over the East Meadow at dawn.

We had many RED-TAILED HAWK sightings - I'd seen four (at least 3 different
ones) in 10 minutes right before we began. The day ended with a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK scaring the wits out of some Mallards at the Rowing Club
with a low straiffing pass.

There were large flocks of gulls, some of which landed on the grass soccer
fields. We had MEW, RING-BILLED, GLAUCOUS-WINGED, and WESTERN, but could
not find California nor any rarity.

Good looks at PINE SISKINS.

And that was about it.

For the morning, counting a single Rock Pigeon I saw on my way out, 40
species.

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