Hi tweets!

Weekend birding plans had been curtailed by a fever, but I woke up early this morning with the darn thing finally gone. Time to go owling! :)

My first stop was Clark Lake Park in Kent, where I walked and called off and on for 45 minutes before getting a response from a Western Screech-Owl, possibly two.

At 6AM, I felt like doing some hunting for Northern Pygmy-Owls - didn't see/hear any all last year - so I drove up to Moss Lake outside of Carnation. While I didn't get the NOPO's, it was still a great bit of birding in a new place for me. The highlights on the walk out and back included a pair of Mourning Doves, a half-dozen Red-breasted Sapsuckers, two Pileated Woodpeckers, and a singing Hutton's Vireo. I also got a look at my first Rufous Hummingbird of the year, sitting on a tree by the lake itself. Tons of all of the other expected forest birds - Steller's Jays, Varied Thrush and Pacific Wren especially.

I tried one more time for owls as I neared my car, and instead got whup........ whup....whup...whup.whupwhupwhupwhup. (!) I wasn't convinced that I'd heard it right, so I waited for a half-minute, and the Ruffed Grouse started back up again, revving up with its wings twice more before I got into the car and called it a morning.

Happy birding!
Tim Brennan
Renton