Tweets ? what a glorious day today. It felt like spring, with temps quickly rising from the low 40?s to the mid-50?s, and with the thin overcast clearing to mostly sunshine. It was WAY birdy. We passed last week?s total by the time we got to Dog Central!

Highlights:

TRUMPETER SWAN Four flew north
Wood Duck Pair in slough south of Dog Area
American Wigeon Matt had 17 early, we had a pair
Lesser Scaup 1-2 females
Great Blue Heron 26 on or near nests. One brought twigs
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper?s Hawk Several sightings. Not sure how many birds
Wilson?s Snipe 1 on far shore of slough at Dog Central
6 Gull Species Including Western, California, and HERRING
R.-breasted Sapsucker Drumming near mansion, + at RC
Pileated Woodpecker 1 flew into mansion area
Northern Shrike East Meadow
TREE SWALLOW 3+, East Meadow
Townsend?s Warbler Male south of mansion
Lincoln?s Sparrow One glimpsed early at Compost Piles
W. MEADOWLARK One just before 7 a.m. at Compost Piles
Purple Finch Pair near mansion, singing

We also had a MYSTERY BIRD THAT GOT AWAY. As we walked the grass soccer fields looking at gulls, a small bird took off unseen from the grass somewhere near us. The flight call initially had me thinking American Pipit, but it soon became clear that it wasn?t. Matt spotted the bird first in flight; eventually most of us got increasingly distant views of the bird as it flew off to the north. Based on flight calls and what little we could see, it was probably either a SNOW BUNTING or LAPLAND(?) LONGSPUR. Whatever it was, it would have been a GREAT bird, if we could only have had a real look. Matt saw it best, and thought the breast looked quite yellow/orange. More distantly it appeared quite white underneath, and it seemed to have significant white patches on the wings.

This afternoon, I did my annual garbage cleanup of the park. The only additional bird I got for the day was HAIRY WOODPECKER. But that made it a 5 woodpecker day. So, for the day, we had 65 species, plus the Mystery Bird That Got Away. For the walk itself, 61 species in just 4.5 hours (7-11:30), equaling the 61 on our Long Day three weeks ago with a LOT more birding effort.

There were a bunch of year birds: Trumpeter Swan, Western Gull, California Gull, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Tree Swallow, Townsend?s Warbler, and Western Meadowlark. (Purple Finch was also new for the Thursday surveys, though I?d had one on a visit during Week 1). So with seven new year birds, I believe that brings us to 84 species for the year.

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