Tweets -; Dawn was absolutely stunningly gorgeous at Marymoor this morning, with an artistic spray of clouds in pink and orange, and frost on the ground. Though it was just below freezing, the air was fairly dry and there was no wind, so it didn't feel too, too cold. We had bits of sunshine all morning. One again, for COVID distancing, we split into two groups, with Jordan leading the other group in a clockwise loop.

It was a very nice day to be out birding, but we didn't see many birds.

Highlights:
a.. Greater White-fronted Goose -; one, looking very small, with Canadas
b.. Virginia Rail -; heard a couple, calling spontaneously along boardwalk
c.. Barn Owl - one heard, and glimpsed, by the early birders
d.. Hairy Woodpecker -; a couple of sightings for our group -; two birds, I think
e.. MERLIN -; came streaking in from the south, landed on a fir, and a minute later went streaking back where it came from
f.. Varied Thrush -; some people heard one calling from near the mansion around 7:30
With the exception of robins and siskins, passerines were in pretty low numbers, with no surprises.

Misses today included Ring-necked Duck, Rock Pigeon, Mew Gull, Northern Shrike, and American Goldfinch.

Jordan's group got 47 species, we got 51. The combined tally was 54 species, down significantly from last week when we had more species of ducks, gulls, and passerines.

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