The sunrise Friday morning was spectacular, with phases of varying color, plus a stack of lenticular clouds just north of Mt. Rainier to provide some drama to the sky. Calm winds and relatively mild (for February!) temps made for a nice outing, witnessed by a larger than usual flock of walkers. Water levels in the west meadow have dropped slightly but the pre-dawn chorus of ducks and snipe continues. And plenty of action once the sun came out. Nothing totally unexpected, but some interesting activity.

Western Grebe - a large flock of several dozen out in the middle of the lake; others were scattered across the range of view
Great Blue Heron - one bird seems to have taken up residence among the boats at the sail pavilion
Cooper?s Hawk - one juvenile hunting the meadows while an adult was calling at the top of Promontory Point, not far from last year?s nest site
Red-tailed Hawk - one adult, one juvenile
Virginia Rail - called from near the Frog Pond
Wilson?s Snipe - several calling, early, from West Meadow
Mew Gull - large numbers continue?as many as 100 on the swim platform at once (looked for a red-legged bird, to no avail)
Herring Gull - a couple, swim platform
Western Gull - as others have pointed out, have to look at every bird; almost hidden by the others, one bird on the back of the platform with a bright white head, dark mantle and black wing tips, black beady eye and heavy bill; uncommon in the park, last sighting was 3 years ago, also early February
Barn Owl - 1 by box 3, another out hunting the meadows
Anna?s Hummingbird - several males, a couple females, one was hanging out in the tree where they nested last year (confirmation of a nest made on Saturday by Jan Bragg)
European Starling - not unusual, but several (?) seemed to be doing a believable Bald Eagle imitation
Yellow-Rumped Warbler - maybe 20 birds, including a couple Myrtle, most on the north end of Kite Hill; an early migrant push?

For the day, 57 species; with WEGU and STJA new, 73 species for the year.
Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27318038 <http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27318038>
Scott Ramos
Seattle