What a glorious penultimate day of 2016! Although temps started in the mid-30s, it never felt really cold. With almost no winds, the lake was easy to scope. Plenty of activity to keep the attention, with several notable birds.

Eurasian Wigeon - male continues with the large flock of AMWI
Green-winged Teal - several groups totaling over 2 dozen; one bird had a distinctly buffy, rather than white, vertical stripe
Red-breasted Merganser - single male, south of park boundary
Cooper?s Hawk - one was an adult male, unbanded
Wilson?s Snipe - at least 4 in the very wet meadows
Barn Owl - 1 at north end, early
Short-eared Owl - several hunting flights, central meadow
Red-breasted Sapsucker - 2 birds, one flew out of traditional sap well tree at south fence line; the other was well ensconced within the tree
Merlin - one flushed out of a Doug fir on Promontory Point, headed west
Hermit Thrush - one chuffing from behind USGS building
Bohemian Waxwing - at least 7, north end; after hearing their calls, a group of 7 flew south; then, a group of about 100 Cedar Waxwings emerged all at once from the blackberries, and the two groups headed north to land in the tall cottonwoods above the dog run
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Audubon?s, in the wetlands
Townsend?s Warbler - female in a Doug fir by the fins
Lincoln?s Sparrow - a couple
https://youtu.be/R5rxTw64Wgs <https://youtu.be/R5rxTw64Wgs>
Song Sparrow - many, several trying out their winter song
https://youtu.be/9KiE8LHa3b8
Western Meadowlark - 2 in the sports fields by the baseball outfield

For the day, 62 species.
Checklists:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33295572 <http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33295572>
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33295736 <http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33295736>
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33295762 <http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33295762>
Scott Ramos
Seattle