Tweets ? I got a 2nd hand report from Joyce Meyer of a LAPLAND LONGSPUR at Marymoor, and raced down, arriving at about 7:45 p.m. I actually was only chasing the WESTERN KINGBIRDS that had also been reported (I saw at least 2 in the East Meadow), since Joyce & Mike had been unable to find the longspur themselves this afternoon.

But I bumped into a teenage birder who had seen the longspur on the gravel path that runs south of the East Kiosk (near the Viewing Mound) sometime after 7:00. He reported having seen it fly over to the Dog Meadow, and reminded me to listen for the distinctive rattle.

I spent the next hour racing around the park in search, straining my ears for any rattled calls. Nada. I saw a juvenile BARN OWL hunting just after sunset, and decided I should probably give up. But just as I was returning to my car, I found the LAPLAND LONGSPUR on the path exactly where described. This was at 9:03 p.m. Beautiful black face and throat with a bright yellow bill, and a wide chestnut collar on a streaked brown sparrow-like bird with a white breast with liberal flank streaking. It popped up off the trail into the grass at the north end of the East Meadow.

This is only the 6th record of Lapland Longspur at Marymoor, and the first since 2013. All previous sightings have been fall birds.

Since both the WESTERN KINGBIRDS and the LAPLAND LONGSPUR were seen so late this evening, I figure there?s a good chance they?ll be there in the morning.

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