Tweets - still being a bit jet-lagged, getting up early wasn't a problem for
me this morning. I got down to the East Meadow by 7:00 am for one of the
best sunrises ever. Before the sun came up, though, we had pretty good
looks at both a BARN OWL and a SHORT-EARED OWL - a great start for 2010 at
Marymoor.

Once the day really began, temps were moderate, the wind was light, the
morning mostly overcast though clearing. The birds were fairly hard to come
by, though. Things started to pick up at the lake, but things didn't really
get birdy until we were going around the mansion area. The Rowing Club was
also great.

Just about every birder in the state showed up, it seemed. I counted 22
people (not everyone was there the whole time), which was really too many...

Highlights:

Common Goldeneye Great views in the slough, more on lake
Green Heron Continues on east edge of RC pond
MERLIN Landed on a favorite perch near stage
Virginia Rail Heard a couple from the boardwalk
Barn Owl One near windmill, one in East Meadow
Short-eared Owl East Meadow after 7:00 a.m.
Red-breasted Sapsucker One NE of mansion
Northern Shrike East Meadow
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2+, including bright Audubon's at RC
Townsend's Warbler At least 1, NE of mansion

ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS were ubiquitous - I'd guess 8+. Several times we saw
two chasing each other. A couple of them, at least, were doing their loop
display flights complete with the popping noise.

For the day, we managed 59 species.

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