Tweets - the threatened rain pretty much held off until after our walk, as
did the wind. Unfortunately, the birds appeared to have been chased out of
the park by raptors. There were about a dozen of us walking a bit quicker
than usual under quilted skies, and the hawks and owls were the highlights:

Highlights:

Bald Eagle Several sightings of adults (3+ birds)
Sharp-shinned Hawk At least 1
Cooper's Hawk Several sightings
Carpie and Shooper's Hawks also were seen, to make for a 4-accipiter day :)
Red-tailed Hawk Renewed activity at the "odd snag" nest site
Peregrine Falcon Nice adult in Snag Row
Barn Owl 2-4 over East Meadow, model airplane field
Great Horned Owl See below
Hairy Woodpecker Nice look at Dog Central
Northern Shrike North of fields 7-8-9
Golden-crowned Kinglet - many sightings all over

There were several discussions about species identification of the many
accipiter sightings we had today, mostly based on somewhat mediocre views.
Some birds were relatively easy to ID, and others were left as accipiter sp.
with proponents on both sides left arguing.

In the pre-dawn darkness, Matt found a GREAT HORNED OWL in the upper
branches of the largest cottonwood in the Big Cottonwood Forest, above the
nest that was built back in November, 2006, by Bald Eagles, but never used.

Thinking that maybe, just maybe, the Great Horned Owls might be deciding to
nest there, we took a long look during the day, checking the nest for
"ears", and the trees for owl shapes. Brian Bell concluded that, if an owl
were out there, it would be hiding somewhere with some cover. One nearby
tree is festooned with petticoats of ivy, so he looked amongst the green.
Sure enough, a Great Horned was there!

The nest itself is large and deep enough to completely hide an adult Bald
Eagle, so it's certainly possible the mate of the owl we saw was inside the
nest. We will continue to monitor in coming weeks.

During the wee hours, Matt enjoyed BARN OWLS circling close over his head at
the model airplane field, and Lillian and I enjoyed watching two BARN OWLS
hunting the East Meadow. My sighting was at about 6:45 a.m. I'm not sure
if "his" owls were the same birds as "my" owls.

For the day, just 51 species, and nothing new for the year list.

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