What a glorious day! This is the type of Spring day that we wait for. It was cool enough early to warrant extra layers, but the sun emerged and warmed things up nicely. Only a slight breeze meant it was possible to view the lake well although the fluttering leaves made it a little hard for bird-spotting. Lots of action on various fronts with some nice birds today.

Mallard - not usually remarkable except there are now several families with ducklings about
Ring-necked Duck (8) and Greater Scaup (2) still hanging out in the Sail Lagoon and beach, while a handful of Lesser Scaup were at the swim beach
Hooded Merganser - a pair of females flew into the swim beach, looked around, then left
Common Merganser - a pair in the sail lagoon
Common Loon - a pair were flying around the lake, making several circuits and calling; another solitary bird off the swim beach
Horned and Red-necked Grebe - a couple each, in breeding plumage
Great Blue Heron - 1 in the wetlands, 2 flying high over the park
Cooper?s Hawk - 2 are testing out nesting sites on Promontory Point; another pair soaring high over the north end
Virginia Rail - calling from the seasonal wetland between the play fields
Sora - calling from deep within the wetlands, first of year
Spotted Sandpiper - flew into Sail Lagoon, calling
Wilson?s Snipe - calling from the west meadow
Bonaparte?s Gull - 3 in breeding plumage, on the swim platform, FOY
Franklin?s Gull - 1 in transitional plumage, with the BOGU, FOY; photo: http://tinyurl.com/k3ygguo
Caspian Tern - high fly-over, calling, FOY
Barn Owl - 2 young hissing from box across from tennis courts
Anna?s Hummingbird - several, one female on nest
Belted Kingfisher - 1 in kingfisher basin, another at the north end
Merlin - 1 flew early from meadows toward sand point neighborhood
Barn Swallow - several off the sail pavilion, FOY
American Pipit - 3 with Savannah Sparrows, along the N-S trail
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon?s) - 55! plus at least 5 Myrtles
Orange-crowned Warbler - several, mostly singing

For the day, 72 species
Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22909246
Scott Ramos
Seattle