Tweets - a gorgeous pre-dawn with Venus, Jupiter, the moon, and Barn Owls,
marred only by a bit of fog; and a cool but sunny morning that warmed nicely
if slowly. Speaking of slow, the birding was quite slow, but we had a
couple of excellent sightings.

A bit before 6:00, Bruce and I had a BARN OWL fly moderately high over our
heads. Given the lateness of the time, I figured that was probably our owl
sighting for the day, but we joined Matt and headed to the new viewing mound
near the Meadow Kiosk to enjoy the sunrise.

A bit after 6:00, a BARN OWL flew in from the Dog Meadow, just before Maria
and Victor arrived there. I had to tell them that they'd just missed the
owl, and that it was already so bright out (no stars, colors clearly
visible) that owls were probably done for the morning. NOT SO. The owl
then made about 4 more passes below us, flying from the Dog Area half-way to
the airplane field and back. Great looks at a hunting owl. Last look was
after 6:15. The viewing mound looks to be an excellent spot to watch for
Barn Owls pre-dawn.

MUCH LATER, when we came out into the East Meadow mid-morning, we found a
BARN OWL perched in a tree on the west side of the path! So an excellent
day for Barn Owl sightings.

Other highlights:

Northern Shoveler \ Two small flocks overhead - about 8 birds
Northern Pintail / total, at least 1 Shoveler, rest Pintails?
Band-tailed Pigeon Several sightings today
R.- breasted Sapsucker One landed near windmill
Warbling Vireo I think we saw a total of about 4
Steller's Jay 15+
O.-crowned Warbler Maybe 4-5
Y.-rumped Warbler One glimpsed
Bl.-thr. Gray Warbler Great looks, NW part of Dog Area
VESPER SPARROW Pale but well marked bird, Compost Piles
Lincoln's Sparrow 1-2, near viewing mound
Western Tanager 2 in trees in East Meadow
Bl.-headed Grosbeak 1 seen, another heard
Pine Siskin 1+ near mansion
Evening Grosbeak Some flybys, 3 perched near windmill

Only a couple of flycatchers were seen - One Western Wood-Pewee, and maybe a
Willow Flycatcher. No swifts, and our only confirmed swallows were Barn.

Misses that seemed a bit surprising: Pied-billed Grebe, Rock Pigeon, and
Yellow Warbler

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