Tweets ?we had to peer through fog for the first couple of hours, but today turned into a good day for birding at Marymoor. Surprises are hard to come by in January, but our last bird was a good one.

Highlights:

Wood Duck One drake in the slough near the lake
Northern Pintail One drake in the slough well north of the weir
Barn Owl One flying around model airplane field
N. Saw-whet Owl Early birders heard 2, near ?Mysterious Thicket?, 5:15 a.m.
Pileated Woodpecker One near east end of boardwalk
HUTTON?S VIREO Two at Rowing Club just after we left. Singing to boot.
Y.-rumped Warbler Three, Dog Meadow
Lincoln?s Sparrow One at Compost Piles
Purple Finch Half-dozen at S end of Dog Meadow
RED CROSSBILL ~Dozen in mansion-area firs and hemlocks

This is just the 7th HUTTON?S VIREO sighting ever at Marymoor, and our first since 2011. Most of us had left for the day, but Sharon and Ruth lingered in the parking lot and heard one of the vireos singing. They tracked it down, and found two HUVI together. Quick phone calls brought Grace&Ollie, and me, rushing back in time to see them at the extreme north end of the Rowing Club parking area.

SINGING was the order of the day. Besides the singing HUTTON?S VIREO, we had singing BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, BROWN CREEPER, BEWICK?S WREN (many), GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, SONG SPARROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO. [When I got home, the first thing I heard was a singing HOUSE FINCH]. The cross-quarter is coming up in a few days (Imbolc ? Feb 2), which marks the end of winter, or at least the end of the shortest days of the year ? half way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

For animals, we had a RIVER OTTER in the lake, and a COYOTE that successfully caught something large ? mole? rat? ? east fringes of the East Meadow. A Red-eared Slider turtle was sunning itself at the Rowing Club.

For the day, 59 species. Hutton?s Vireo and Red Crossbill were new for the year, bringing our 2015 total to 74 species.

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