Tweets ? it was overcast, with annoying drops of water occasionally landing almost exclusively on binocular eyepieces this morning. Nothing you could really call precipitation, so it was easy to forget to put the rain cap back over the binocs. For birds, it was a pretty good day. A couple of mammal sightings were possibly the best highlights though.

Highlights:

OSPREY ? at least one ? first for 2017
Red-tailed Hawk ? one on new nest built near site of fallen odd-snag
Western Screech-Owl ? one right next to the trail, east of boardwalk, 6:15
Short-eared Owl ? one briefly over East Meadow, 6:20
Red-breasted Sapsucker ? several
Pileated Woodpecker ? finally got a distant look, after hearing several times
Northern Shrike ? Seen a couple of times; should leave soon
American Crow ? one eating a baby garter snake, Compost Piles

After the walk, I made a swing past the East Meadow and added:
SAY?S PHOEBE ? north end of the meadow on a post; new for 2017
BARN SWALLOW ? first for 2017, and our 5th earliest ever

The animal highlights were great looks at a LONG-TAILED WEASEL in the NW corner of the Dog Area, and soon after a RIVER OTTER on the far side of the slough just above the weir. Both new for 2017. The weasel was great, since it made at least 3 forays out from the same blackberry clump across the grass.

For the day, 63 species of bird. I believe we?re up to 97 species for the year.

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