Tweets ? Despite the rain, which got moderately heavy for a while there, we had a great morning at Marymoor today. The mist started a little after 7:00, and got slowly but steadily worse for a few hours before tapering off again. But with warmish temps, and no wind, it was certainly manageable. And it never really got that heavy.

The birds were singing and even somewhat active!

Highlights:

American Wigeon A few on puddle in grass/gravel parking lot
Horned Grebe One well out on the lake
Virginia Rail Heard from bend in the boardwalk
Western Gull One looked pretty pure
THAYER?S GULL Same bird as last week, maybe a 2nd as well
Barn Owl 1, good show, East Meadow, after 6 a.m.
R.-breasted Sapsucker 1 at Rowing Club
MERLIN One landed just SW of mansion
Northern Shrike One north of main road
Varied Thrush At least 1 singing near mansion
Western Meadowlark One, East Meadow
Red Crossbill Still around a dozen near mansion

ALL of the AMERICAN ROBINS seemed to be singing today. PACIFIC WRENS and MARSH WRENS were also in full song, as were most of the species noted last week. Seemly a bit early for them, a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET was singing complete songs near the Rowing Club building. I counted at least 27 GREAT BLUE HERONS at the heronry, so I?d expect there will be more nests built this spring.

After the walk, I stopped by the cabana on the lake, since we?d seen what could have been a Common Loon when viewing from the lake platform. I couldn?t confirm a loon, but I did see a WESTERN GREBE. There were also TWO pairs of BALD EAGLES.

Sometime a little after 6 a.m., when we were looking for owls from the Viewing Mound, Matt & I noticed a couple of EASTERN COTTONTAIL RABBITS. For quite a while, they seemed to peacefully chomping on grass next to each other. But then, after a short bit of chasing, the two faced off, about 2 feet apart. They seemed to glare at each other, and then they each bounced straight up into the air about 2-3 feet several times. This was a pure bounce ? from a sitting position, they suddenly popped into the air moving neither forward nor backward. They even seemed stay level front-to-back. After a few bounces each, they went back to being peaceful bunnies. ???

Big misses for the day: Either accipiter, Downy Woodpecker, Lincoln?s Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, and American Goldfinch. Additionally, House Finch was heard-only. We?re still waiting on our first warbler of any kind for 2013. White-crowned Sparrows have been virtually absent this winter (VERY unusual). I think the 5 times we?ve had them this year, it?s mostly just been a single juvenile. Where are the Gambellii hordes?

For the day, 58 species! For the year, adding WESTERN MEADOWLARK, we?re at 83 species.

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