Hi Tweets -
Today 6 of us met up for Michael Hobbs and my 7th annual King County
Big Day for Seattle Audubon. We were joined by Paul & Barbara
Webster, Sharon Cormier-Aagaard and Ryan Merrill for what turned out
to be a very fun day of birding all over the county. Despite
scattered light showers and the year's slow migration we ended up
with 120 species for the day, our third best big day yet.

The day started nicely, with a 4:30 meetup. We began with 2 Great
Horned Owls dueting around the Mansion area at Marymoor. Over at the
Model Airplane field at Marymoor, we had several great looks at Barn
Owls flying by, and heard Wilson's Snipe and Ring-necked Pheasant --
all before our 'real' start at 5:30.

Marymoor was birdy, one of the only really birdy stops of the day. On
our walk through the park , we picked up many of the standard
species. Highlights were probably : A couple bright Western Tanagers,
heard-only Wilson's Warbler, and a Nashville Warbler that Ryan got on
but the rest of us missed. The first few of several Red-breasted
Sapsuckers were also nice to find early. Barbara picked up our only
Lincoln's Sparrow of the day around the East Meadow, and we had a
Mourning Dove at the sparrow piles.

Out in the Snoqualmie Valley next, we picked up Cinammon Teal [the
first of several], Yellow Warbler -- one or two singing -- Warbling
Vireo up Lake Joy Road. 3 Townsend's Solitaires around Lake Joy,
Hutton's Vireo near Moss Lake, and a tantalizing look at a possible
Swainson's Hawk that went down as a 'maybe' . We also had our FOY
Black-throated Gray Warbler up at Stoessel Creek and a Merlin as
well. A Cackling Goose at Carnation Farms / Sykes Lake was a nice
find.

At Tokul Creek, we caught a glimpse of American Dipper and saw 2
Spotted Sandpipers. Above us a pair of Peregrine Falcons presumably
from Snoqualmie Falls chased Bald Eagles -- maybe away from the nest
sight?

Down in the Kent Valley, we tried hard for shorebirds and lingering
ducks. Highlights included: A Solitary Sandpiper at Emerald Downs and
4 more ! at 204th; Least & Western Sandpipers at both Emerald Downs
and 204th; One Lesser Yellowlegs at 204th; Greater White-fronted
Goose at 185th St; another Cackling Goose at Boeing Ponds;Very
cooperative American Bitterns at Kent Ponds; 10 Eurasian Collared
Doves along Frager Rd. just south of 516; and a Sora visible along
the edge of the pond at 212th.

In West Seattle, in fading light, we picked up a lot of saltwater
birds including Brandt's & Pelagic Cormorant, Brant, Rhino Auklets &
Pigeon Guillemots, Barrow's Goldeneye, Common Loon , Surf Scoter
Red-necked & Western Grebe. At T-107 we had Caspian Tern and our only
Purple Martins. After dark, we dipped again on Barred Owl at Lincoln
Park, but did hear Western Screech-Owl at MeKwaMooks to end the day.

Big misses for the day included: Black-headed Grosbeak [possibly
heard at Marymoor but never confirmed], American Pipit, Bullock's
Oriole, Pac-Slope Flycatcher, Common Goldeneye, Harlequin Duck,
Barred Owl, Horned Grebe & Cooper's Hawk.

Overall, a very fun day with lots of First-of-Year birds, some
surprises, and great company.

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA