Birding Marymoor with Ed Siegel this morning we saw the Lazuli
Bunting as our second bird not long after walking out of the parking
lot. A life bird for me mostly thanks to the first bird we saw, a
Common Yellowthroat, that was about 6 feet away on the same set of
brambles. Otherwise I may not have seen it in the same bin field.

It was on brambles (on the meadow side of the "dirt heaps") popping
up and down after we walked out on the trampled path into the meadow
from the parking lot. Another birder came along a short while later
but was having trouble seeing it pop up so luck does play a part in
seeing it.

Cedar Waxwings seem to be the new "American Robin" at Marymoor. They
were everywhere. Very distracting. Mosquitos were the second bad
distraction on the boardwalk: next time I'll bring some repellant.
One Brown-headed Cowbird showed up along with a handful of Black-
headed Grosbeaks.

Other partial IDs seen:

A possible Townsend Solitaire on the River side path not far from the
"River Kiosk". I was looking almost straight up at it from below.
Seemed to have all the right features: darker gray on top and very
light gray below, thrushy, white eye ring but didn't see the buffy
wing bars as it exited (just didn't get a good view). Any other
possibilities I should consider?

I saw an Empid on that River path after it's turned into "off leash":
full asymmetric(?) eye ring and wing bars and the fly-catching
behaviourtoo but it wasn't singing for me so I'll leave the ID at that.

And was also pleased to see Purple Martin's on the gourds way out in
the lake at Juanita Bay Park on another stop. And at Log Boom Park in
Kenmore in the gourds are out beyond the jetty. Very nice. Image
stabilized bins are a win! Another life bird for me!

On May 22, 2009, at 11:55 AM, ma_vern at yahoo.com wrote:

> I also saw my first Willow Flycatchers and Western Wood-pewees of
> the year. There were many Black-headed Grosbeaks, Cedar Waxwings
> and Yellow Warblers. I didn't find any Lazuli Buntings.

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com