Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co., WA) 2013-03-21
Date: Mar 21 14:19:04 2013
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at frontier.com


Tweets ? it was breezy at times, with broken overcast, and it couldn?t be called warm this morning. But we had a good day. The 7:00 a.m. start time was slightly optimistic, so we began by looking at the ducks, and then the gulls on the grass soccer fields. While doing that, we spotted what appeared to be a meadowlark, which drew us further east. While trying to get a look at the meadowlark, I spotted a shrike beyond the Compost Piles. So we ended up deciding to do the walk backwards. It?s very strange for us to do that, as we?ve done about 1000 trips counter-clockwise versus less than ten, probably, in the opposite direction.

Highlights:

Gr. Wh.-fronted Goose 3 with Canadas near park entrance
Cackling Goose Around 100 flew overhead
American Wigeon 1 in slough below weir, Matt heard more
Greater Scaup 1 female at weir
Lesser Scaup Male and female at weir
Great Blue Heron Much carrying about of sticks
Cooper?s Hawk Juvenile, 2 sightings
Western Gull 1 with Mew, California, and GWGUs.
Rufous Hummingbird 2+, males
Red-breasted Sapsucker Two, one drumming, Dog Meadow south
Hairy Woodpecker One near park office
PEREGRINE FALCON One over park office, flew north
Northern Shrike One NE corner of East Meadow
Violet-green Swallow Many near weir ? first of spring
Varied Thrush One near windmill
Townsend?s Warbler One near windmill
SAVANNAH SPARROW One at East Kiosk ? first of spring
WESTERN MEADOLARK Three north of fields 7-8-9
BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD One near weir ? first of spring
Red Crossbills Heard near weir
CHICKEN A very tame hen was near the windmill

Matt & I thought we heard a DUNLIN pre-dawn while failing to see any owls. Other misses included Hooded Merganser, Ring-billed Gull, White-crowned Sparrow, and House Finch. Also, we were very much hoping for Say?s Phoebe or Mountain Bluebird, as this is the best week of the year for both of those species, but we were disappointed.

Still, we had 68 species today! New this week were Rufous Hummingbird, Violet-green Swallow, Savannah Sparrow, and Brown-headed Cowbird, to bring our 2013 list to 92 species. Plus the chicken.

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