Tweets - fifteen of us enjoyed unexpectedly good weather today. Early on,
there was a touch of fog, somewhat hiding the crescent moon. The fog
cleared fast, though, and the rest of the morning there was thin overcast
with occasional sun breaks. The early morning chill (45 degrees) gave way
to rather warm conditions for mid-October (63 degrees). The park was filled
with sparrows.

We had at least 3 and maybe as many as 5-6 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, seen
today. There were two along the slough trail north of the Dog Area, one in
an elderberry at the northwest corner of the dog area, one at the Compost
Piles, and two in Snag Row along the edge of the Community Gardens (Pea
Patch). I may even be forgetting a sighting. In any case, we had some
really nice looks. None of the birds was white-striped, but they ranged
from drab juveniles to quite bright and crisp adults. Maybe not so
coincidentally, I've had a White-throated Sparrow at my house the last 3
days.

The other big highlight was a MERLIN perched in Snag Row that gave us good,
long looks.

Other highlights:

Mew Gull 1, with Ring-billed Gulls - First of Fall
Barn Owl Matt & Scott, early, East Meadow
Short-eared Owl Matt & Scott, early, East Meadow
Orange-crowned Warbler 1 in the Pea Patch
Western Meadowlark 2 at the north end of the East Meadow
Evening Gosbeak Heard a couple of times overhead

Sparrows were very numerous, with good numbers of all 8 regular species
(towhee, Savannah, Fox, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Golden-crowned, and
junco). We heard singing from Fox, White-crowned, and Golden-crowned.

For the day, 60 species. For the year, I think we're up to 153.

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