Tweets,
I was doing my almost-daily "Corona walk"-;seeing mostly the same birds in various close-to-home places, and this morning it was at Kirkland's Juanita Bay Park, which was very quiet-;the Common Yellowthroats were calling rather than singing and the only real noisemakers were a family of flickers and a herd of female RW Blackbirds. I was on my way back from the north end of the causeway, though, when an Osprey flew in and out of nowhere a dark falcon took up chase. This was quick, and the falcon, which I assumed to be a Merlin based on size and how dark it was, peeled off. As I got to the section of bare snags just off the west side of the causeway, though, it was sitting up and I had the chance to observe the bird at length, a female "black" Merlin. After several minutes with mostly just AM Goldfinches chirping at her, she took off towards the lake. If you're out there, watch for her.

There was also what I think was a lone, female BW Teal, well off the causeway. I didn't have my scope, but the dark bill looked pretty slender and she was more brown than reddish, indicating BW rather than Cinnamon. Her eye looked dark, but I was at some distance. I've only seen one BWTE there, a male in 10/2016.

It's good to have some surprises in the midst of this "reduced" routine! For a feeder bonus this season, for the first time in 16 yrs., we've had nesting Purple Finches here. Listening to a male sing his rich, garbled song right now.
Penny Koyama, Bothell
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