Tweets ? a very fine day at Marymoor. The weather really couldn?t have been much better, I don?t think, as it was cool but sunny to start, and it warmed up slowly without getting hot, and while the clouds came in, they remained just a few big puffy balls in the sky. Lots of bird song today, especially from BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS and WILSON?S WARBLERS.

Highlights:

Wood Ducks Many sightings, plus ducklings
Hooded Merganser One lone female, but 7 HOME ducklings with a Wood Duck female
Common Merganser Flock of ~17, maybe 20 total
Bald Eagle At least 5-6 juveniles and 3-4 adults
Sharp-shinned Hawk Juvenile, East Meadow. First of Year, surprisingly
American Coot One still there, a friendless waif
Spotted Sandpiper Only shorebird exc. Killdeer ? 1 at weir, 1 at lake
Anna?s Hummingbird Nest near start of boardwalk has at least 1 baby
MERLIN Very quick flyby
HAMMOND?S FLYCATCHER ? one seen giving partial songs, Dog Meadow edge
Pac.-slope Flycatcher One near Hammond?s giving only 1 or 2 calls ? also FOY
Warbling Vireo Many, lots of singing
Savannah Sparrow My count - ~60 !
Western Tanager 3 seen just after 6:00 ? FOY
Bl.-headed Grosbeak Ubiquitous, loud

Week 18 (ending today) has the highest cumulative species count of any week of the year at Marymoor, so we were anticipating a big species count. But we were a little disappointed. There?s what looks like possible shorebird habitat below the weir, but the only shorebirds we had today were KILLDEER and SPOTTED SANDPIPER. We?ve had 5 other species of shorebird in Week 18 in the past. And we only had 5 warbler species, with nothing new for the year ? Nashville, MacGillivray?s, Yellow, Townsend?s have all been recorded previously in Week 18. And while we were happy to get two Empids, this is traditionally one of the 2 best weeks for Western Kingbird. But not today.

Still, it?s hard to complain too loudly. Nice weather, 64 species, and 4 new for 2016 to get us to 120.

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