Tweets ? we were hampered by two things this morning. First was a cold fog that impeded viewing until we?d gotten past the Lake Platform. The other were a plethora of BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, all singing. Usually, there were 2-3 singing simultaneously wherever we were. This made it quite difficult to hear anything else. Really. I suspect that between these two impediments, we missed 2-3 species, but we still had a really good morning. It was birdy, and the 38 degree fog slowly burned away, leaving us under sunshine at 60 degrees.

Highlights:

CINNAMON TEAL Pair landed just below weir. First of Year
Bufflehead I found 1 female at the lake, late. Our last?
Green Heron Harassed by a crow as it flew near the weir
Cooper?s Hawk Flew through the Pea Patch area
Mourning Dove Sitting quietly on the far side of the slough
Pileated Woodpecker Flew upstream at weir right after Green Heron
empid. sp. Hammond?s? Dusky? Gray? Least? East Meadow
Warbling Vireo Almost as common as Black-headed Grosbeak
SWAINSON?S THRUSH Matt heard one pre-dawn; FOY
Nashville Warbler Mason saw one
Bl.-thr. Gray Warbler Three heard singing; one seen well
Wilson?s Warbler Also very common
Western Tanager Male, SE edge of East Meadow
LAZULI BUNTING 2 males, north of fields 7-8-9; FOY
Bullock?s Oriole At least 3, in cottonwoods north of heronry

Early arrivals remain the norm. The WESTERN TANAGER we had on Saturday, May 2, was just 2 days later than our earliest record, and ties for 3rd earliest. The BULLOCK?S ORIOLE we had Saturday was just 1 day later than our earliest record, and also ties for 3rd earliest. Today?s SWAINSON?S THRUSH is about the 3rd earliest record, and the LAZULI BUNTING is the 2nd earliest. (The CINNAMON TEAL was nowhere near early, nor was Saturday?s AMERICAN PIPIT).

Kathy Andrich reported WESTERN KINGBIRD on Friday, April 30.

For the day, our group total was 69, plus a pretty good list of mammals (E.G. Squirrel, American Beaver (seen well), Muskrat, Eastern Cottontail, Mule Deer).

For the year, adding CINNAMON TEAL, SWAINSON?S THRUSH, and LAZULI BUNTING, I believe we?re at 124 species for 2015.

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