Hi Tweets -
This week, Brian Bell & I were subbing for Michael. It was a fun Thursday - a bit of near-drizzle in the early hours, but we managed to avoid any real rain - not bad! We ended up with 56 species - lower than recent outings, but punctuated by some good surprises

Highlights:
Short-eared Owl - one flushed from the east meadow and gave all of us great looks around 10:15 - a Cooper's Hawk pursued it for a bit, then it disappeared. FOF [first of fall]
Mourning Dove - 3rd straight week for one in the park
Varied Thrush - heard one or two - given the recent snows and reports of VATH showing up, we were hoping to hear/see Varied today. FOF
Pacific Wren - a couple, including one seen well - FOF
White-crowned Sparrow - both pugetensis and gambellii singing in a few good-sized flocks

Another highlight was great looks at Long-tailed Weasel in the community garden.

Misses included Hairy Woodpecker, Brown Creeper, Bushtit and Savannah Sparrow [all gone?]

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA