Tweets - we had a wonderful day today. It was frosty cold to start, but it
was sunny with no wind. It took its time warming up, though. It was very
birdy.

Highlights:

Wood Duck 1 heard by us; photographer reported 1 male
Northern Pintail Pair in slough before 7:00 am
Barrow's Goldeneye Male with Commons on lake again this week
MERLIN Chased starlings north of fields 7-8-9
Wilson's Snipe 2-3 visible on the far side of the weir
Red-br. Sapsucker 1 drumming on light near mansion;
3 in weeping willow at Rowing Club
Hairy Woodpecker Pair in Big Cottonwood Forest
TREE SWALLOW 6 over East Meadow, and visiting boxes
Varied Thrush Heard at many locations, never seen
BOHEMIAN WAXWING Again near Dog Central and 100 yards south
Townsend's Warbler Sharon had 2 near windmill, late

GREAT BLUE HERONS appear to be establishing a heronry in the large
cottonwoods right at Dog Central, the main swim beach with the bulletin
board and benches. This is an area that is extremely heavily used by people
and dogs. Maybe that will keep eagles at bay? There were around 18 herons
in the 8 or so cottonwoods there, with at least a couple of partially built
nests, and several adults carrying in sticks. This is the first evidence of
GBHE nesting at Marymoor in the 22 years I've been going there.

After the MERLIN gave up on the starlings, it landed in the hawthorn tree
that has been a favorite perch for the NORTHERN SHRIKE this winter. I
believe the shrike was in the tree at the time. In any case, the shrike was
NOT pleased to have the Merlin there, and scolded it vocally and by flaring
its tail. The Merlin stayed there for about 5 minutes before flying to a
nearby tree, with the shrike chasing it. Then the Merlin flew off to the
east, fast.

The BOHEMIAN WAXWING was first seen with CEDAR WAXWINGS about 100 yards
south of Dog Central in and near hawthorn and holly trees. We got better
looks when it flew to a cottonwood at the northeast corner of Dog Central,
and our best look when it landed in a hawthorn just north of there at the
west edge of the dog meadow. With 80-100 waxwings over the last week, some
of the trees are being stripped of all of their berries, so the waxwings may
begin to range a little wider. But last week and this week, we only saw
waxwings along the slough trail between the windmill and the furthest south
dog swim beach, with the Bohemian staying towards the south. They seem to
be going after any kind of berry.

Lots of pair interactions, including food passing between Red-breasted
Nuthatches and between Cedar Waxwings. Ruby-crowned Kinglet males were
feisty and showing their red crowns at every opportunity.

For the day, 61 species. For the year, adding TREE SWALLOW, 86 species.

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