Tweets -; Our bad luck with the weather continues, as does Mayvember. Not quite as cold nor as rainy as last Thursday, but not the nice sunny weather of yesterday. Why can't we get a break??? It was dark for a long time after sunrise today, with mizzle and drizzle (but some breaks); the rain didn't set in until mostly after the walk. Since last week, many winter birds have disappeared. A few summer birds filled in for them, but as usual the species total today was lower than the totals at the beginning of May.

Highlights:
a.. Canada Goose -; shared clutch of ~20 goslings below the weir
b.. Mallard -; clutch of 10 ducklings at Rowing Club
c.. Pied-billed Grebe -; one on lake was our first in four weeks
d.. BLACK SWIFT -; maybe 8 over the Dog Meadow -; our earliest spring sighting for these ever. First of Year (FOY)
e.. Vaux' Swift -; large count (50-75) over the slough late in the morning
f.. WHIMBREL -; flock of 14 spent quite a while circling low over the park trying to find a place to land, East Meadow and Dog Meadow (FOY)
g.. DUSKY FLYCATCHER -; one along east edge of Dog Meadow calling and twice did complete songs
h.. Warbling Vireo -; maybe 5 (FOY)
i.. Cedar Waxwing -; small flock(s) -; first in 6 weeks, probably returning summer residents, right on schedule
j.. Lazuli Bunting -; two males at Pea Patch (FOY)
As far as I know, this is the 6th record of WHIMBREL at Marymoor. On 2000-05-14, Steve Pink reported a flock of 50. 2010-06-19, John Farley reported 10. The Marymoor Survey had 2 on 2014-05-09. One was reported on eBird 2015-05-09. Earlier this year, on 2022-04-22, Barry Brugman photographed two. Jordan Roderick put a couple of great photos of today's flock on eBird.

Despite the gloom, it seemed fairy birdy today, and it was nice to get looks at BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, YELLOW WARBER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, WILSON'S WARBLER, WESTERN TANAGER (at the Rowing Club), BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, and INDIGO BUNTING. But there were quite a few heard-only birds and several seen only by one or a few of us.

"Winter" birds seen last week but not today included Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, American Coot, Double-crested Cormorant, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Misses today included Rock Pigeon, Green Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Red-breasted Sapsucker (I may have heard one), Cliff Swallow, and Pine Siskin.

Despite the misses and the departures, we still managed 68 species today.

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