Another nice day at Marymoor today - the early morning was gorgeous and
birdy, though the wind picked up a bit after the first couple of hours, and
the birds became a little harder to find. Early on, though, the park was
just FULL of birds. Swallows seem to have all left, and ducks haven't
arrived yet, but there were a lot of other species to see.

Highlights (FOF=First of Fall):

TURKEY VULTURE 2 flew south over E edge of park
Barn Owl 1 or 2 were seen pre-dawn, East Meadow
Great Horned Owl ? Scott had a GHOW or Barred Owl early
NORTHERN SHRIKE One at Compost Piles - FOF
Orange-crowned Warbler 2 still around
Yellow-rumped Warbler 100+
White-throated Sparrow TWO in the willows at the weir - great looks
Western Meadowlark 2 near Compost Piles
Brewer's Blackbird One with dozens of RWBL at the Pea Patch
Pine Siskin 2 at the Pea Patch - FOF
Evening Grosbeak Saw 1 flock overhead, heard several others

A juvenile RED-TAILED HAWK kept flying into birdy spots as if it were a
Cooper's Hawk. At least 4 times, I thought we finally had an accipiter for
the day, but it was always just the Red-tail. The little birds reacted as
if it were an accip.

Scott Ramos's large, dark owl flew close to his head, and it was carrying a
rat. It was still too dark for him to see details, but by size and dark
tones, he figures it was either Great Horned or Barred. Neither of these is
usually seen over the East Meadow.

By one day, this was the earliest NORTHERN SHRIKE fall sighting we've ever
had., beating out the October 8. 2007 sighting.

ots of "misses" - No Hooded Merganser, Cooper's Hawk, American Coot,
Ring-billed Gull, or Glaucous-winged Gull were seen, all of which we
typically would see at this time of year. We did have a few gulls way far
out on the lake - too far for ID.

For the day, 57 species.

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