Tweets ? We had a really fine morning for birds today, especially early. After all of the rain, by 6:00 a.m. the rain had stopped, and by our start time of 7:30, the fog had cleared too. It was really birdy for the first couple of hours, and we had large mixed flocks to sort through.

Highlights:

Cackling Goose Several flocks of ~50 overhead; none landed
Wood Duck About 10 at lake, males looking gorgeous
LOON SP. Matt & I saw a loon, 7:30, flying towards the lake
Western Grebe 2 on lake
Northern Harrier Juvenile seen hunting several times
Wilson?s Snipe One on far shore of Rowing Club pond
SHORT-EARED OWL One flew past the Viewing Mound at 7:01
Hairy Woodpecker One on tree roots, south end of Dog Meadow
Pileated Woodpecker One north of mansion
AMERICAN KESTREL One harassed harrier, perched east of East Meadow
American Pipit Brian saw some early, we heard some later
Cedar Waxwing Notably active and obvious
Y.-rumped Warbler ~100, mostly Myrtle?s type, drab
WH.-THR. SPARROW One seen a couple of times ? First of Fall
Evening Grosbeak Heard flying past, distantly

For both NORTHERN HARRIER and WESTERN GREBE, this is the week of the year with the most sightings for any week. Conversely, this was the only week in late-September through December where we *hadn?t* previously had SHORT-EARED OWL. The peak time for them has been the last 2 weeks of October.

For the day, 58 species. I believe we?re at 149 species for the year.

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