Tweets - we had a good day today. It was overcast, or maybe that was just
high fog above us. In any case, not too cold, not windy, and no
precipitation. Still very high water - we couldn't get to the boardwalk
along the slough trail, but did manage to cut across on the new trail that
runs east-west just south of the dog area. The boardwalk was somewhat
underwater. Lots of water filled the Dog Meadow and puddled elsewhere. The
Rowing Club dock remains inaccessible.

Big highlight was an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, very flighty, moving around the
general area of the Compost Piles, with some juncos. The eye stripe wasn't
very red, so we spent a lot of time trying to make sure it wasn't a Chipping
Sparrow. We finally managed to see the orangey lower mandible, and the bold
central breast spot (for which you need a frontal view, which this guy was
loathe to give). Overall, the bird seemed quite pale; too pale and too
buffy for a Chipper.

Other highlights:

Gr. Wh-fronted Goose Two with Cacklers on grass soccer fields
TUNDRA SWAN Juvenile in "pond" on grass soccer fields
2nd swan flyby that looked Trumpeter
American Wigeon Many in flooded interior of Dog Meadow
Gr.-winged Teal Four with wigeons
Western Grebe 1-2 at lake
Green Heron One on beaver lodge at Rowing Club
American Kestrel Male and female seen again
Barn Owl Early sightings at windmill and East Meadow
Great Horned Owl Matt heard (maybe saw) one near Dog Central
Anna's Hummingbird Nice male just south of Dog Meadow
Y.-rumped Warbler A handful near the east end of the boardwalk

I found two dead mammals - a Townsend's Vole and an American Shrew-mole.
Both looked to have drowned.

For the day, 57 species. For 2009, up 10 to 64 species.

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