Tweets - We had a really nice day today at Marymoor, though we were all a
bit impatient to get spring birds back. Things were just a little slow in
that regard. But we had good weather improving to great weather during the
morning, and we certainly had a lot of bird song.

Highlights:

Cackling Goose 1 or more flocks of ~25 overhead
Green Heron 1 glimpsed across from Rowing Club dock
Sharp-shinned Hawk At least 1
Coopers Hawk More than 1
Barn Owl GREAT LOOKS, East Meadow, 6:15ish
Rufous Hummingbird 1 male at south end of East Meadow
Salmonberry First blossoms of the year, at Rowing Club
Red-breasted Sapsucker 3 together near start of boardwalk
Common Raven 1 east of Rowing Club, had 2 on Saturday
Bushtit Ubiquitous. Really!
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ubiquitous, just not quite so many
American Robin See above note for Bushtit... times 2
Townsend's Warbler 1 NE of mansion, 1 nearby dead
Lincoln's Sparrow After the walk, 1 at Compost Piles

In the pre-dawn darkness, we may also have had a Short-eared Owl, but we
could not confirm. But a BARN OWL made some really close approaches just
before First Crow.

The RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD was seen feeding on Tall Oregon Grape that I think
was planted at the south end of the East Meadow.

A RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER was drumming again on a light just east of the
mansion at around 7:20. Later, near the start of the boardwalk, there was a
big commotion amongst 3 sapsuckers. At the other end of the boardwalk,
there was a similar commotion amongst 3 NORTHERN FLICKERS.

BUSHTITS really were everywhere. I'm going to have a very hard time
guessing how many we saw, total, since it was clear that we were pacing a
flock for a long time (or vice versa). But we had them everywhere, just
about, so there must have been many flocks.

Singing/displaying/drumming birds included Ring-necked Pheasant, Anna's
Hummingbird, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped
Chickadee, Bewick's Wren, Pacific Wren, Marsh Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet,
American Robin, Varied Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Fox
Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Purple
Finch, House Finch, and Pine Siskin. There was a Red-tailed Hawk sitting
atop the odd-snag nest, and Tree Swallows were visiting the nest boxes in
the East Meadow and Community Gardens.

There were two WESTERN MEADOWLARKS in the East Meadow yesterday, but none
today.

For the day, 62 species. Common Raven and Rufous Hummingbird were new for
the year, bringing the 2011 total to 90.

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