Tweets ? the pre-dawn stiff breeze and sprinkles cleared to beautiful sunshine and warmth this morning; exceptionally nice weather for February. And, damning with faint praise, it was birdy for February too. Actually, the day was pretty good for birds as well as weather, though we didn?t have anything terribly noteworthy. For the first time this year, we had NO OWLS during our pre-dawn searching. That *was* disappointing.

Highlights:

Green-winged Teal 5 pairs in Rowing Club Pond
Western Grebe One far out on the lake
Virginia Rail Two heard from bend in boardwalk
Red-breasted Sapsucker One at Rowing Club
Northern Shrike One in Dog Meadow
Varied Thrush Two on path near weir
Red Crossbills Continue around mansion
American Goldfinch One at park office feeders

Singing birds included BROWN CREEPER, BEWICK?S WREN, SONG SPARROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO, and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. The Heronry was again filled with roosting GREAT BLUE HERONS, though there was no sign of nest work.

We managed 55 species for the day, though nothing new for the year.

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