Tweets ? The dismal weather report was, as usual, not to be trusted. Yes, the weather was not as nice as most recent days, but it was merely breezy, and we mostly didn?t have rain. We had periodic drizzle at most, and for much of the morning there were blue skies and even rainbows. It felt like the birds were a little timid with the changeable weather, and often stayed hidden and silent, but we managed some sightings.

Highlights:
a.. Lesser(?) Scaup ? one female with Buffleheads at lake. More scaup were in the air. FOF for scaup spp.
b.. -Seven species of duck total-
c.. Hooded Merganser ? female in slough from RC dock ? first since August
d.. Herring Gull ? one on grass fields, with Mew, Ring-billed, California, Glaucous-winged, and many muddled ?Olympic Gulls? ? FOF
e.. Sharp-shinned Hawk ? great looks at a juvenile eating a bird on the boardwalk railing about 30 feet away
f.. Barn Owl ? brief look, East Meadow, maybe 7:00 a.m.
g.. Short-eared Owl ? better looks, East Meadow, just after 7:30 a.m.
h.. Northern Shrike ? juvenile in East Meadow hawthorns
i.. Varied Thrush ? one at the south end of the Dog Meadow in a large Oregon Ash
j.. Townsend?s Warbler ? at least two in the American Chestnut near the mansion
k.. White-throated Sparrow ? with Golden-crowns and juncos near the 2nd/3rd Dog Swim beaches
The day was notable for misses ? No Western Grebe, any woodpeckers except Northern Flicker, Steller?s Jay, Brown Creeper, Cedar Waxwing, Purple Finch, American Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lincoln?s Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, or Western Meadowlark. We had terrible looks at two groups of Pigeon sp. that were *probably* Rock Pigeon. One or two distant Pine Siskins were the only finches besides ~20 House Finch. And no really good rarity to share with y?all.

For the day, 55 species, plus a COYOTE that crossed the model airplane field.

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