Tweets -; Yesterday didn't play out like I thought it would. First, the day was cold and dark, and really didn't feel very spring-like. But secondly, I was expecting many common returning species that have already been seen around King County. For the most part, we DIDN'T get these. But we made up for them with uncommon birds. Still, it wasn't very birdy in many ways (except we ended up with a high number of total species, so maybe I'm full of it).

Highlights:
a.. Cackling Goose -; Several flocks, 40+ birds total. Only once have we seen them later in spring (one reported 2010-05-02)
b.. Cinnamon Teal -; Drake below the weir
c.. Ring-necked Duck -; Pair seen on late scan of lake. Getting late
d.. Vaux's Swift -; At least two, First of Year (FOY)
e.. SOLITARY SANDPIPER -; One seen below the weir soon after 6 a.m. Two seen at mitigation ponds south of Rowing Club about 11:00 a.m. (FOY)
f.. Greater Yellowlegs -; One heard
g.. Barred Owl -; One heard calling from the west side of the slough early
h.. DUSKY FLYCATCHER -; Matt and I heard one (and I saw most of it), in rose thicket near windmill. NEW BIRD FOR THE PARK
i.. Northern Rough-winged Swallow -; Two conveniently perched on poles at the Pea Patch (FOY)
j.. Hermit Thrush -; One along east edge of Dog Meadow (FOY)
k.. Bullock's Oriole -; Matt's group heard and saw a male along west edge of the East Meadow while the rest of us were on the east edge. (FOY)
l.. Wilson's Warbler -; Matt and I had one with the Dusky Flycatcher (distractingly in the same bush at the same time) (FOY)
This was only the 8th time we've had SOLITARY SANDPIPER at Marymoor. This was the 2nd earliest BULLOCK'S ORIOLE.

Most years, we've had HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS at the park during spring migration. We've been anticipating a DUSKY as well, and several times we've been aggravatingly uncertain whether a particular empid was Hammond's or Dusky. But this year, Matt has been preparing especially for Dusky including having refreshed his knowledge of their early-season calls. He even had some cued up on his phone so we could compare call notes in the field while hearing the Dusky still calling. So this time we felt confident in our identification despite not getting a look at primary projection.

Misses yesterday included Pied-billed Grebe, Rock Pigeon, Green Heron, and Belted Kingfisher.

And we're still waiting for FOS Spotted Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, Common Loon, Hammond's Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Cassin's Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Evening Grosbeak, Chipping Sparrow, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Western Tanager, and Black-headed Grosbeak, all of which might have shown up yesterday. Maybe next week.

For the day yesterday, 75 species!

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