Tweets ? I went out solo today. I track the park?s birds by the week of the
year. Poor Week 53 has only a single day each year, except for leap years
when it has two days. So we don?t have very many surveys for Week 53, and I
thought I?d try to add to Week 53?s totals (and I did ? 9 additional
species).

I wasn?t expecting it to be a great day, but the weather was about as
perfect as you can get at this time of year ? thin overcast, no wind, temps
in the 30?s, no hint of precipitation. And it was super birdy.

Just as I was heading south from the Dog Area, I heard a Common Raven
calling from above. At first I thought the raven must be perched atop one of
the tall cottonwoods, but finally I saw it flying very high above the trees.
Actually, I thought there were two ravens, but when I got a look at them
with my binocs, I could see that one of them wasn't a raven -
It was a SNOWY OWL. The owl was slowly cruising southwest, quite high up.
I don't know how long the raven had been flying with it, harassing it all the
time, but it may well have been for miles. Ravens are much more common in
the Snoqualmie Valley than the Sammamish Valley. Soon after passing over the
river, the raven broke off its pursuit and headed back to the east.

This is the first known report of SNOWY OWL for Marymoor Park! It brings
the Park list to 222, and it was a species that I was skeptical whether we?d
ever get. Snowys around here seem to prefer being closer to Puget Sound.

Other highlights:

Gr. Wh.-fronted Goose At least 3
Cackling Goose 1200+ on grass fields
CALIFORNIA QUAIL Male at Compost Piles ? 1st for 2012!
Horned Grebe A couple well out on lake
Western Grebe At least 7 well out on lake
Virginia Rail At least 3 heard east of East
Meadow
SHORT-EARED OWL Nice looks at model airplane field, 7:30 a.m.
Red-breasted Sapsucker Near mansion
Hairy Woodpecker Four sightings
Pileated Woodpecker Female in Big Cottonwood Forest
Northern Shrike East Meadow
Common Raven Harassing Snowy Owl
Dark-eyed Junco Notably plentiful - 60+
Red Crossbill 20+ near mansion
American Goldfinch Six, just south of dog area

I also had a COYOTE west of the weir, and two RIVER OTTERS on the lake.

For the day, 60 species!

== Michael Hobbs
== www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== BirdMarymoor at frontier.com