Hi Tweets,

Seven birders turned out for this monthly bird walk on 10/10/11 at Lake Sammamish State Park offered by Eastside Audubon. We birded from 8 am to noon on a cloudy, rainy, light wind day with temps in the low to mid 50's. Many of the park's winter residents have returned for us to enjoy during the next several months. It was nice to see and hear them again. Highlights: a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW was skulking with Marsh Wrens and Common Yellowthroats in the southeast meadow (a new bird for the park!); a lone GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and 2 CACKLING GEESE were hanging out with a flock of Canada Geese; 4 WOOD DUCKS were waddling with a bunch of Mallards on a grassy area in the parking lot; out on the lake there was a COMMON LOON; a HORNED GREBE and a WESTERN GREBE; a NORTHERN HARRIER flew over one of the fields; 30-40 VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS and one lone BARN SWALLOW filled sections of the sky above us; a couple of PACIFIC WRENS were setting up residence for the winter; a lone YELLOW WARBLER and a couple of BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS were traveling with a couple of mixed flocks; many COMMON YELLOWTHROATS and SAVANNAH SPARROWS are still around; 6 FOX SPARROWS; 2 LINCOLN SPARROWS, 4 GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS; and a bunch of PURPLE FINCHES (we had a nice opportunity to scope and compare the Purples to the House Finches as they perched side by side). Despite the soggy weather, it was another great birding day at Lake Sam with a bunch of really nice folks. 52 species for the day, 119 for the year.

Sharon Aagaard
Bellevue, WA
scormieraa001 at hotmail.com

> Greater White-fronted Goose 1
> Cackling Goose 2
> Canada Goose 50
> Wood Duck 4
> Gadwall 2
> Mallard 60
> Common Loon 1
> Pied-billed Grebe 4
> Horned Grebe 1
> Western Grebe 1
> Double-crested Cormorant 1
> Great Blue Heron 1
> Northern Harrier 1
> Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
> Red-tailed Hawk 1
> Virginia Rail 1 heard only
> American Coot 100
> Killdeer 6
> Mew Gull 1
> Ring-billed Gull 20
> California Gull 5
> Glaucous-winged Gull 2
> Belted Kingfisher 1
> Downy Woodpecker 1 heard only
> Northern Flicker 3
> American Crow 12
> Violet-green Swallow 40
> Barn Swallow 1
> Black-capped Chickadee 12
> Chestnut-backed Chickadee 4
> Brown Creeper 4
> Bewick's Wren 5
> Pacific Wren 2
> Marsh Wren 6
> Golden-crowned Kinglet 5
> Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4
> American Robin 20
> Common Yellowthroat 6
> Yellow Warbler 1
> Yellow-rumped Warbler 30
> Black-throated Gray Warbler 2
> Spotted Towhee 4
> Savannah Sparrow 6
> Fox Sparrow 6
> Song Sparrow 12
> Lincoln's Sparrow 2
> White-throated Sparrow 1
> White-crowned Sparrow 1 heard only
> Golden-crowned Sparrow 4
> Purple Finch 16
> House Finch 30
> American Goldfinch 10
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)