Hi Tweets



Michael is still in Prague so he missed out on the last Marymoor walk of the year. Today, the 31st of December 2009, started out mostly cloudy and chilly, but with no wind. It gradually clouded over completely, but with structure to the clouds and the Cascades visible on the horizon. Eventually the cloud cover became a solid gray stratus and we waited for the rain. The rain, predicted to start at 10 AM held off and didn't start until close to noon. The species diversity was good, although the absolute numbers of birds seemed to be down. There were a few birds singing including Bewick's and Marsh Wrens and Red-winged Blackbirds, and several other species were giving abbreviated versions of songs.



We didn't see anything spectacular but did have nice sightings of:

Barn Owls

Trumpeter Swans

Common Merganser

Green Heron

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Northern Harrier

hear 3 Virginia Rails

and get nice looks at the Northern Shrike.



Brian H. Bell

Woodinville WA

mail to bell asoc at isomedia dot com



Details below:



55 species



All in all, it was a good day for the last day of December.



Cackling Goose - about 260

Canada Goose - about 100

Trumpeter Swan - 2 overhead

Gadwall - 2 on river

Mallard - male, female, 8

Green-winged Teal - male, female

Bufflehead - male, female, 70, most on lake

Common Goldeneye - male, female, 12

Hooded Merganser - 1, female probably, in flight

Common Merganser - 1 male on lake, 6 others on lake

Pied-billed Grebe - 1 on river, 30 on lake

Double-crested Cormorant - about 38

Great Blue Heron - 9?

Green Heron - 1 at rowing club pond

Bald Eagle - adult 1, imm 1

Northern Harrier - 1 soaring high

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 early at compost piles

Cooper's Hawk - 1

Red-tailed Hawk - 2

Virginia Rail - 3 heard on east boardwalk

American Coot - 9 on river

Wilson's Snipe - 1 heard early in east meadow

Mew Gull - 15

Ring-billed Gull - 1

Glaucous-winged Gull - 4 (including 2 hybrids)

Barn Owl - 1 at windmill early, 1 in east meadow about 7

Anna's Hummingbird - at least 3, maybe 4

Belted Kingfisher - 1 male on river

Downy Woodpecker - 2 (1 female)

Northern Flicker - 1

Northern Shrike - 1 in east meadow

Steller"s Jay - 1 at rowing club parking lot

American Crow - about 50+

Black-capped Chickadee - 10+

Chestnut-backed Chickadee - 3 near mansion

Bushtit - 10? Along forest trail

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1 heard near mansion

Brown Creeper - 1 along forest trail

Bewick's Wren - 4

Winter Wren - 1

Marsh Wren - 5

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 8

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 6

American Robin - 25

European Starling - 30

Spotted Towhee - male, female, 6

Fox Sparrow - 8

Song Sparrow - 10

White-crowned Sparrow -1 adult

Golden-crowned Sparrow - 40 or so

Dark-eyed Junco - 35

Red-winged Blackbird - 6 males

Purple Finch - 3

House Finch - male, female, 25-30

Pine Siskin - 8 in flight