Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2015-05-21
Date: May 21 13:01:32 2015
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at frontier.com


Tweets ? there are too many leaves on the trees. That?s why it was so hard to see birds today. Not that there weren?t birds to see ? we could *hear* them fine. But many species went unseen, or glimpsed only, or reported by one or two people lagging behind. Even so, there was plenty to look at as it was birdy. Gorgeous day too.

Highlights:

Wood Duck At least a dozen; males, females, 2 ducklings
Blue-winged Teal 1-2 pair. Lake Platform, later in slough below weir ? FOY
Hooded Merganser Female w/6 ducklings; male at Rowing Club pond
Green Heron JUVENILE, with downy tufts, below weir. Early for young!
Spotted Sandpiper One below weir ? First Of Year
Barn Owl Babies heard inside windmill, early
Pileated Woodpecker Two glimpsed sightings
Willow Flycatcher Two singing on far side of slough ? FOY
Hammond?s Flycatcher Scott Ramos heard one below weir
Warbling Vireo Many heard, NONE seen
Purple Martin Male, 2 females at gourds
Swainson?s Thrush Lots of full songs, NONE seen
Cedar Waxwing Back in abundance ? FOY
Or.-crowned Warbler 1-2 heard
Bl.-thr. Gray Warbler 1-2 singing at Rowing Club, glimpsed by some
Wilson?s Warbler Only 1-2, down from 20+ last week, heard only
Lazuli Bunting Several singing males; Compost Piles & Fields 7-8-9
Bullock?s Oriole 4-6, males and females
Red Crossbill Flocks seen several times

Across the slough we saw a female MALLARD with about six ducklings, heading upstream. We also saw a female HOODED MERGANSER with six ducklings, heading downstream. Matt said something like ?Oh, there?s going to be a rumble?. We thought he joked. He DID joke. But when one of the Hoodie ducklings came close to the female Mallard, she took a stab at the little one. This got the two females into a spitting match; Mrs. Hoodie was not going to let a threat to her baby pass, despite the much larger size of the Mallard. The two groups separated for a few seconds, then the Hoodies made a bit of a dash for it, finally getting past the Mallards.

Two beavers were seen across from Dog Central near their lodge.

For the day, 68 species. Adding Blue-winged Teal, Spotted Sandpiper, Willow Flycatcher, and Cedar Waxwing brings us to 132 species for the year, I think.

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