A bit of early fog, and a bit colder than recently at the start, but another gorgeous day all-in-all..  Highlights: Cackling Goose             Still some with Canadas on grass parking lot Western Screech-Owl    Heard by several people way early near windmill Pileated Woodpecker     First of the year Northern Shrike             North of fields 7-8-9 Winter Wren                  East end of boardwalk Cedar Waxwing             Lillian spotted 9 for us, near Dog Central Yellow-rumped Warbler Rowing Club; also near east entrance Lincoln's Sparrow           Compost Piles.  First since Jan. 7 Notable were all of the species heard singing:: Black-capped Chickadee Brown Creeper Marsh Wren Bewick's Wren Winter Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet American Robin European Starling Song Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Red-winged Blackbird House Finch For the day, 59 species.  For the year, Pileated was new. = Michael	Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Photo by Lillian Reis Pied-billed Grebe
Golden-crowned Kinglet	Golden-crowned Kinglet
Female Bushtit.  Photo by Scott Ramos	Red-tailed Hawk, 2010-02-19.  Photo by Lillian Reis
	Willow

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Early rain and rain after, but except for the first half hour, we were blessed with another good day for birding at Marymoor.  For a few minutes around 11:00, it was actually sunny, though most of the morning was rather dark, though warm.  It certainly feels spring-like, though of course we still only have "winter" birds. 7:30 a.m. start time, Thursday morning, in the rain, during the February doldrums...  22 birders. Highlights: Cackling Goose               Good sized flock - usually scarce by February Common Goldneye          Around 30 at lake (high count) Green Heron                    Continues unseasonable reliability at RC Cooper's Hawk               Adult, motionless with very full crop, at Compost Piles PEREGRINE FALCON  In snags east of boardwalk Rock Pigeon                     Pair copulating on NE corner light pole BARN OWL                   Pair at windmill early, adult in nest box later Anna's Hummingbird        At least 5 males seen.   Females on nest? Hairy Woodpecker         Good looks south of East Meadow Northern Shrike               Sub-adult west of grass soccer fields Varied Thrush                  Heard near weir Purple Finch                    ~15 along east edge of East Meadow House Sparrow              Across the street from the Rowing Club We also had a BEAVER just above the weir. Matt & Scott had a pair of BARN OWLS at the windmill between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m.  They were clucking and clicking, there was quite a bit of pair-type interaction, and possible copulation.  Later, we found an adult inside the nest box, between the mansion and the stage.  The evidence of squirrel nest (twigs and leaves) had been cleared out of the box, presumably by the owl. For the day, 58 species.  For the year, adding Peregrine, Varied Thrush, and House Sparrow. we're now at 75 species.   = Michael	Beaver just upstream from the weir.  Photo by Ollie Oliver Barn Owl in the nest box between the mansion and the stage.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Golden-crowned Kinglet.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Hairy Woodpecker, uncharacteristically on a twig, not a trunk.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Golden-crowned Sparrow with odd black-and-white mark on one side of the head only. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Fungus near the windmill
Lillian Reis had better weather for photographing this Fox Sparrow, 2010-02-05	Lillian caught this Red-tailed Hawk imitating the cover of the big Sibley, 2010-02-12

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What a nice morning to be out!  It was 37 degrees at 7:30, which seemed cold in comparison to how warm it's been.  It warmed up pretty nicely during the morning as the sun danced through the clouds.  The wind didn't pick up until we were through.  And IT'S SPRING, according to the wrens, chickadees, sparrows, Indian Plum, and some willows.  Singing  constantly filled the air. Highlights: Greater White-fronted Goose   At least 1 with flyover Canadas Green Heron                            Same spot at Rowing Club pond Barn Owl                                 Scott had one early along road Belted Kingfisher                      Eating salamander at Rowing Club Red-breasted Sapsucker          Next to park office in Sequoia Hairy Woodpecker                   Working elm(?) west of mansion Northern Shrike                        North of grass fields 7-8-9 Cedar Waxwing                        More than a dozen in East Meadow Yellow-rumped Warbler           1 at Rowing Club Singing birds included BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, BEWICK'S WREN, MARSH WREN, SONG SPARROW, and HOUSE FINCH.  It's amazing "how many more Bewick's Wrens there are" once they begin singing.  Almost certainly just a sampling artifact - they go from quiet skulkers to active yodelers. We had a nice mixed flock of about a dozen PINE SISKINS mixed with a similar number of AMERICAN GOLDFINCH that gave us good looks. Some GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS got thoroughly ticked off when I played my iPod at them for about 30 seconds.  They gave a great show of their crowns. At least a couple of Indian Plums were blooming, as were some willows.  The non-native hazelnuts are already dropping catkins.  Alders are in bloom, if you can call it that.  Ain't it great? For the day, 56 species.  Nothing new for the year, though. == Michael	Ollie Oliver caught some of the majesty of the sunrise Double-crested Cormorants fly to the lake
Gadwall pair on the slough	American Goldfinches
Pine Siskin (right) with American Goldfinches	Lillian Reis's photo of a Pine Siskin shows the yellow wing-stripe well
Golden-crowned Kinglet	Song Sparrow.  Photo by Scott Ramos
Cedar Waxwing photo by Ollie Oliver	Red-breasted Sapsucker.  Photo by Hugh Jennings
Red-breasted Sapsucker.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Hairy Woodpecker photo by Ollie Oliver
Belted Kingfisher eating a salamander or newt, at the Rowing Club	Green-winged Teal posturing, at the Rowing Club
Moon portrait by Scott Ramos	"Sun feather" by Scott Ramos
Blooming Indian Plum (Oso Berry)	Strange but beautiful clouds

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The weather was fine (high overcast, warm), but the birds were pretty scarce.  We did our normal walk-through at our normal pace, but after 9:00 we didn't see much.  There was almost nothing to photograph. Scattered across the morning were  a few highlights: Greater White-fronted Goose 1 with Canadas, new for 2010 Green Heron                          A fixture at the Rowing Club pond Bald Eagle                              Pair entwined talons for a mid-air swirl Sharp-shinned Hawk              One near weir, new for 2010 Western Gull                          One on grass soccer fields, new for 2010 Barn Owl                               Seen early Western Screech-Owl            Heard southwest of windmill early With so many birders (16), there were lots of eyes.  Four species were added to the list by Scott Ramos, who left early and had some luck that we didn't on his way out. For the day, 57 species.  For the year, 71 species. == Michael	Matt looks for owls in a cedar
Black-capped Chickadee.  Photo by Lillian Reis	Spotted Towhee.  Photo by Lillian Reis
Male Anna's Hummbingbird	Ollie Oliver's photo of the same Anna's Hummingbird
Greater White-fronted Goose with Canada Geese.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Male Ring-necked Duck at the Rowing Club.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Witch Hazel in bloom.  Photo by Lillian Reis	Tiny fungus on the end of a twig.  Photo by Lillian Reis
Face hidden in the roots of a tree along the shore of the slough.  Photo by Lillian Reis	Heron cloud.  Photo by Lillian Reis
Female Common Goldeneyes. Photo by Scott Ramos

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Not a bad day to be out.  Too breezy at times, but warm, only partially overcast, and no precipitation.  The wind was sometimes a problem, sometimes not.  It didn't feel terribly birdy, and we missed a few "common" birds like Cooper's Hawk and White-crowned Sparrow.  But we ended up with a pretty good list, especially after a rather productive visit to the Rowing Club at the end. Highlights: Trumpeter Swan                        Three flew south towards the lake Ducks, generally                        10 species, incl. Scaup sp. on the lake Green Heron                              Same spot at Rowing Club pond WESTERN SCREECH-OWL  Scott heard one early, west of the mansion Short-eared Owl                        The early birders had one in the East Meadow Downy Woodpeckers                Several really good looks at 2-3 birds Northern Shrike                         East Meadow Very few sparrows of very few species, though there was a large flock of  juncos near the mansion.  Few finches too, though we managed 4 species. For the day, 55 species.  For the year, 68 species.	Male Downy Woodpecker.  Photo by Hugh Jennings
Lillian Reis caught a shot of the three Trumpeter swans	Bushtit near Dog Central
Song Sparrows were singing.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Female Downy Woodpecker working a large Black Cottonwood
Adult Northern Shrike in the East Meadow.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Male Anna's Hummingbird at the Pea Patch.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Male Ring-necked Duck at the Rowing Club.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Male Bufflehead at the Rowing Club.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Green-winged Teal pair at the Rowing Club	Male Green-winged Teal.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
	European Hazelnut, Corylus avellana, catkins and tiny flower. The native hazelnut, Corylus cornuta, blooms later in the spring (March, typically). Photo by Hugh Jennings

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We were blessed by several hours without precipitation this morning.  We had a beautiful sunrise, it didn't start misting until 10:30, and the rain held off until noon.  Not too terribly birdy, but a decent day none-the-less.   Water levels are high, after all of this rain - about 5 feet at the weir gauge.  There were  some large puddles approaching the boardwalk, and the boardwalk itself was under as much as 4 inches of water in places. Highlights: 8 species of duck Double-crested Cormorant    Dozens overhead towards lake Green Heron                         Once again, at the RC pond Short-eared Owl                   Matt had 1 or 2 early Hairy Woodpecker               At least two, seen pretty well Northern Shrike                     Seen at 8:00 a.m., but not later Cedar Waxwing                     2-3 at Dog Central American Goldfinch                Good sized flock Cedar Waxwings are rare in the depths of winter at Marymoor, so they were a nice find. For the day, 53 species.  For the year, we're up to 63 species. == Michael	Another great purple and orange sunrise
Hairy Woodpecker west of the mansion.  It looks to have worked these branch for a while.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Steller's Jay.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Adult White-crowned Sparrow at the Compost Piles.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Adult Cooper's Hawk next to the Community Gardens.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Male Common Goldeneye.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Originally identified (based on song) as a Winter Wren, upon close examination of the photo, it was determined to be an iPod.  Photo and joke by Ollie Oliver
Mew Gulls.  Photo by Lillian Reis	Cedar Waxwings.  Streaking on the sides and flanks, as well as the absence of red tips on the wings, indicates that the near bird is a subadult.  Photo by Lillian Reis.

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Still being a bit jet-lagged, getting up early wasn't a problem for me this morning.  I got down to the East Meadow by 7:00 am for one of the best sunrises ever.  Before the sun came up, though, we had pretty good looks at both a BARN OWL and a SHORT-EARED OWL - a great start for 2010 at Marymoor. Once the day really began, temps were moderate, the wind was light, the morning mostly overcast though clearing.  The birds were fairly hard to come by, though.  Things started to pick up at the lake, but things didn't really get birdy until we were going around the mansion area.  The Rowing Club was also great. Just about every birder in the state showed up, it seemed.  I counted 22 people (not everyone was there the whole time), which was really too many... Highlights: Common Goldeneye          Great views in the slough, more on lake Green Heron                      Continues on east edge of RC pond MERLIN                           Landed on a favorite perch near stage Virginia Rail                        Heard a couple from the boardwalk Barn Owl                           One near windmill, one in East Meadow Short-eared Owl                East Meadow after 7:00 a.m. Red-breasted Sapsucker    One NE of mansion Northern Shrike                 East Meadow Yellow-rumped Warbler    2+, including bright Audubon's at RC Townsend's Warbler          At least 1, NE of mansion ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS were ubiquitous - I'd guess 8+.  Several times we saw two chasing each other.  A couple of them, at least, were doing their loop display flights complete with the popping noise. For the day, we managed 59 species. == Michael	Scott Ramos caught some of the glory of sunrise
Golden-crowned Sparrows	Scott Ramos saw two River Otters in the slough
Common Goldeneye on the lake (Pied-billed Grebe in the background). Photo by Ollie Oliver	Adult White-crowned Sparrow at the Compost Piles. Photo by Scott Ramos
Brown Creeper	The creeper appeared frozen in place, perhaps because it saw the Merlin
Merlin atop whip-snag near concert stage.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Song Sparrow.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Ryan Merrill's photo of the Brown Creeper	Two adult White-crowned Sparrows, apparently of the gambelli subspecies. Photo by Ryan Merrill.

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Michael is still in Prague so he missed out on the last Marymoor walk of the year. Today started out mostly cloudy and chilly, but with no wind. It gradually clouded over completely, but with structure to the clouds and the Cascades visible on the horizon. Eventually the cloud cover became a solid gray stratus and we waited for the rain. The rain, predicted to start at 10 AM held off and didn’t start until close to noon. The species diversity was good, although the absolute numbers of birds seemed to be down. There were a few birds singing including Bewick's and Marsh Wrens and Red-winged Blackbirds, and several other species were giving abbreviated versions of songs.   We didn't see anything spectacular but did have nice sightings of: Barn Owls Trumpeter Swans Common Merganser Green Heron Sharp-shinned Hawk Northern Harrier hear 3 Virginia Rails and get nice looks at the Northern Shrike.   55 species   All in all, it was a good day for the last day of December.   Brian H. Bell	Male Common Merganser.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
Common Goldeneye pair near the weir.  Photo by Hugh Jennings	Ollie's shot of the same
Bufflehead at the lake, with at least two Common Goldeneye.  Photo by Lillian Reis	Four female Common Goldeneye, with Bufflehead.  Photo by Lillian Reis
Adult Cooper's Hawk.  Photo by Ollie Oliver	Chestnut-backed Chickadee.  Photo by Ollie Oliver
	Definitely not at Marymoor... As Brian mentioned, we've been in Prague, Czech Republic.  The winter birding here is very slow - I've seen fewer species in two weeks than the Marymoor crew had in 5 hours on Thursday.  But there are some rather nice birds amongst them, including this Blue Tit, Parus caeruleus.  I haven't managed any other photos, really, as I only have my wife's snapshot camera, but I have seen Green Woodpecker, Hawfinch, Gray Wagtail, Bullfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and more. Happy New Year to all. = Michael

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