Tweets - Beautiful dawn, thin overcast after sunrise, no rain, little wind until the end, but rather chilly. Not nearly as spring-like as yesterday. Big group; had to split in two, going in opposite directions, and even then the groups were rather large. Spring is definitely happening, though.

Highlights:
a.. Cackling Goose -; maybe 2000, mostly in long strings flying SE to the east of the park before 7:00 a.m.
b.. TRUMPETER SWAN -; flock of 33 in a nice V, flying north over the East Meadow, calling
c.. Great Blue Heron -; I counted 70 birds at the heronry, with maybe 15 more flying around. Much nest building going on.
d.. Barn Owl -; one flew across the East Meadow a little after 6:00 a.m.
e.. Red-breasted Sapsucker -; two sightings for my group. First of the Year (FOY)
f.. TREE SWALLOW -; Maybe 4 at the Pea Patch and 4 at the East Meadow (FOY)
g.. VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW -; two over fields 7-8-9 (FOY)
h.. Bushtit -; at least a dozen at the Rowing Club. These have been hard to come by this winter at Marymoor
i.. Varied Thrush -; quite a few heard, some people even saw a couple briefly
j.. Cedar Waxwing -; three heard, glimpsed, near the stage
Today's sighting of VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW is our 5th-earliest sighting ever, though still (just) over a week later than our earliest-ever sighting in 2016.

Misses today included Ring-necked Duck, Cooper's Hawk, Pacific Wren (though I heard one yesterday at the park), Western Meadowlark, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Eagerly awaiting our first Rufous Hummingbird and Savannah Sparrow; maybe next week. Say's Phoebe and Mountain Bluebird are unlikely before the 3rd week in March, but possible sooner.

Between the two groups, we had 63 species today. With the two species of swallow, we're up to 84 species for 2021.

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