Tweets - It was damp and dark for most of the morning. The light rain and
wind let up pre-dawn, leaving us with light winds, mizzle, and damp. Not a
very birdy day, with long stretches of nothing but robins. There were LOTS
of robins, and crows. Coots and geese were also in the triple digits, with
Golden-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos around 50 each. Everything
else was pretty sparse and scarce.

Highlights:

- Ring-necked Pheasant - We saw George a couple of times, for our first
record since before Thanksgiving (which apparently he survived)
- Wilson's Snipe - Nice looks at ten or more along the slough downstream
of the weir
- BARN OWL - One flew past the Viewing Mound around 7:15, our first in
3.5 months
- Hairy Woodpecker - One near the Heronry
- AMERICAN DIPPER - Just our 4th ever; one foraging in the near side
channel of the slough, about 100 yards downstream of the weir
- Varied Thrush - 3 or 4 near the concert venue
- Savannah Sparrow - 2 or 3 in the East Meadow; only our 7th-ever
December sightings

This was our first DIPPER since 2016, and obviously First of Year (*FOY*).
We now have single sightings in each of June, August, October, and
December. No obvious pattern there.

Misses today included Common Merganser, Northern Shrike, Bushtit, Marsh
Wren, Purple Finch (maybe heard one very distantly), and Pine Siskin.

For the day, 54 species.

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