Tweets -; today was magical. After yesterday's brief visit, which added 4 species to the year list, I was very eager to bird leisurely today. I was not expecting the cold (36 degrees at the start, but warming fairly quickly), but the birds out-did themselves. We had all four of the new species I saw yesterday, plus SEVEN MORE!

Highlights:
a.. American Wigeon -; flyby of three. Getting very late for them at Marymoor
b.. Ring-necked Duck -; pair at the Rowing Club ponds probably last until fall
c.. Common Merganser -; especially numerous -; flock of 12 flyby, plus *many* other sightings
d.. BAND-TAILED PIGEON -; 2 or 3, New for 2019
e.. VAUX'S SWIFT -; 3+ today. New for 2019 yesterday
f.. Wilson's Snipe -; still 3+ below weir. Will be leaving very soon
g.. SPOTTED SANDPIPER -; one below weir, calling. New for 2019
h.. Common Loon -; one well out on lake
i.. Double-crested Cormorant -; 3 or 4 in a high flyby. Also likely heading away from Marymoor soon
j.. Western Screech-Owl -; Matt saw one pre-dawn
k.. All five woodpeckers -; Hairy excavating a hole in tree in Big Cottonwood Forest
l.. WESTERN KINGBIRD -; one reported Tuesday, not seen yesterday. Today, one in East Meadow moving to Model Airplane Field. New for 2019
m.. HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER -; one at south end of the dog area, calling, and with a partial song
n.. PURPLE MARTIN -; One or two seen, more heard overhead. New for 2019 yesterday
o.. CLIFF SWALLOW -; at least one from the Lake Platform. New for 2019 yesterday
p.. Hermit Thrush -; three yesterday, at least that many today
q.. American Pipit -; some flyovers, and a couple seen well north of the Compost Piles
r.. EVENING GROSBEAK -; flyover of 2, calling. New for 2019
s.. CHIPPING SPARROW -; One at the Compost Piles may have been the same bird seen later NE of there. Another bird seen near mansion. New for 2019
t.. Fox Sparrow -; one seen, heard singing. Missed them last week in the rain. Getting late for them.
u.. Lincoln's Sparrow -; No repeat of yesterday's singing, but a big movement coming through. At least 8-10. We hadn't had a Lincoln's for the 5 weeks prior.
v.. Orange-crowned Warbler -; quite a few singing
w.. NASHVILLE WARBLER -; One in "Mysterious Thicket" seen well, heard singing; one at Rowing Club. New for 2019 yesterday
x.. BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER -; One near dog beach 2, one at Rowing Club New for 2019
y.. WILSON'S WARBLER -; Two at Rowing Club. New for 2019
z.. Five warbler day total, counting Common Yellowthroat and Yellow-rumped Warbler (both Audubon's and Myrtle types).
Biggest bonus of the day was a BOBCAT just southwest of the windmill lounging at the very top of a cedar while all kinds of birds harassed it. While not new for the park list, this was the first time for the Marymoor Survey, and for me personally. Fabulous looks. Nobody had any camera beyond their phones :(

Earlier, Eric saw (and the rest of us heard) a LONG-TAILED WEASEL dispatch some squealing mammal.

Our biggest misses were Rock Pigeon, American Coot (one seen yesterday, though), Green Heron, and Glaucous-winged Gull (though we did have gull spp.).

Counting Gull sp., our tally of bird species today was 76! One of our very best days ever. For the year, I think we're up to 110.

If the weather is good next week, it should be a really good walk. It would be very difficult for it to be better than today. But next week is Week 18, which has by far the highest total number of species seen over the years of any week of the year (145 species across 25 years).

== Michael Hobbs
== www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== BirdMarymoor at frontier.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20190425/82100121/attachment.html>