Tweets -; We had a moisty misty morning today, with only a brief clearing mid-morning but mostly a lot of gray. Not terribly birdy, and there were long stretches with virtually nothing seen or heard. But the relatively warm temps, the moderately dry conditions, and the low wind allowed us to track down a few birds.

Highlights:
a.. Greater White-fronted Goose -; one in a flock of 450+ Cackling Geese. First of Year (FOY)
b.. Northern Pintail -; two drakes below the weir (FOY)
c.. Ruddy Duck -; a late scan of the lake turned up two females in the NE corner
d.. Twelve species of duck and three species of goose for 15 species of waterfowl total
e.. Barn Owl -; Matt had one calling on the windmill at 5:30 -; first one there in a very long time
f.. Red-breasted Sapsucker -; one east of the mansion
g.. Bushtit -; more than a half-dozen being very elusive in the willows below the weir. Amazingly FOF
h.. Western Meadowlark -; I think we had 3 total
We also had 5 RIVER OTTERS seen from the Lake Platform in the slough, and our first turtles of the year -; one each of Red-eared Slider and Painted Turtle at the Rowing Club.

The biggest highlight today was the number of species SINGING: Anna's Hummingbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Marsh Wren, Bewick's Wren, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, WESTERN MEADOWLARK, and Red-winged Blackbird. The Great Blue Herons were hanging around actually in the heronry trees (V -; Visiting Nest Site).

Misses today included American Wigeon, Virginia Rail, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Shrike, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin.

Despite that long list of misses, we managed 56 species. More than usual were detected by only 1 or 2 people and/or were heard-only, however. Still, not a bad day.

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