...was a Barn Owl this year! Birding the north terminus of the Soos Creek Trail, I had a Barn, followed by a Great Horned Owl. No luck on Barred or Northern Saw-whet. Further down the trail, by the maintenance Barn on 148th, there was another calling pair of Great Horned Owls. Trying for Western Screech at Clark Lake in Kent, I dipped, but birds 3 and 4 for the year were both shorebirds (??), a Killdeer and a Wilson's Snipe that was pretty unhappy with the calls I was making. It was dark, so it was hard to tell, but I think it was making some pretty close passes at me!

No luck yesterday or this morning on finding the White-throated Sparrow or Swamp Sparrow from the CBC, so the 11 sparrow day that the Kent-Auburn CBC had on the 30th might be difficult for an individual to repeat.

Happy birding, and Happy New Year!

Tim Brennan
Renton