Tweets - a strange day at Marymoor, and definitely the beginnings of fall.
It was COLD to start (39 degrees), though it warmed slowly to 72. No wind,
few clouds, and an interesting mix of birds, including some weirdness.

Highlights:

American Wigeon First of Fall - 2 flew down slough
Common Merganser 2 seen in flight
Osprey Still 1, calling loudly as if hoping for
handouts
Sharp-shinned Hawk Chasing flickers
Cooper's Hawk At least 2 (adult, immature)
MERLIN One over lake, being chased my Martins
MOURNING DOVE One at Pea Patch - FOF
Hairy Woodpecker Seen twice - 2 birds?
Pileated Woodpecker In Big Cottonwood Forest, chased by Coop!
Willow Flycatcher 1-2 seen, west edge of Dog Meadow
Warbling Vireo 3-5 seen
PURPLE MARTIN Two chasing Merlin at lake - latest sighting ever
AMERICAN PIPIT Heard over Compost Piles early
Y.-rumped Warbler Brian had one from lake platform
Townsend's Warbler One near mansion
Fox Sparrow First of Fall - 3
LAZULI BUNTING See note below
Evening Grosbeak Several flyovers

The strangest thing was the PILEATED WOODPECKER that spent at least 10
minutes being chased around by at least 1 juvenile COOPER'S HAWK in the Big
Cottonwood Forest. The Coop just wouldn't let it be, and the Pileated
looked none too pleased. To make things more surreal, at the same time, a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was chasing NORTHERN FLICKERS. One or both of the
accipiters were vocalizing.

One of the FOX SPARROWS had a quite-gray head with a noticeable reddish ear
coverts and upper tail coverts. I'm not sure yet if any photos were
obtained.

The LAZULI BUNTING was seen at a distance of close to a 1/4 mile, but it was
perched at the tip top of a dead tree with sunlight full on the bird. The
metallic sky-blue head sparkled in the sun, and the lower belly was clearly
white. I observed the bird for probably 30 seconds or more. Brian Bell
also confirmed the ID. A breeding male in mid-September in King County is
very unusual! This is four weeks later than our previous late-date for Laz.

For the day, I believe we came up with 60 species.

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