Once more, heavy fog that didn't burn off at all, but mild temperature and
no breeze made the birding tolerable. But, numbers were not as great as
last week, though diversity was interesting.
While looking into the fog-bound lake, we saw a hazy cluster of geese swim
to the beach: 2 Snow and 7 Greater-white Fronted Geese. They eventually
came ashore then flew over to the sports field, one species at a time.
Bufflehead and Western Grebe are about back to normal winter numbers. A
Great Blue Heron was perched on the very top of one of NOAA's trawler
vessels.
Of raptors, a Bald Eagle was being chased north by a Mew Gull, an immature
Cooper's Hawk was perched overlooking the brush piles by the gardens, and a
Merlin was seen chasing a small passerine at the south end of the park. As
soon as we parked for our owl search, we heard a kleaking Barn Owl. When
Joe pointed it out, we then heard another bird calling, both in the
direction of the fire tower building. A stop there produced no further
evidence, however. A Wilson's Snipe flushed from the meadows while we were
owl searching and a calling Spotted Sandpiper flew along the lake shore
near the swim beach.
Notable was that the (or another?) White-throated Sparrow showed up again.
In the dim, foggy weather, decent photos have been a challenge, but I was
able to get a brief video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lQMHg2u6N8.
Finally, a small group of American Pipit flew over the north end of the
park, calling.
For the day, 55 species.Checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15483777Scott RamosSeattle