Blech - heavy rain interspersed with slightly less heavy rain. Temps in the low 40's. At least there wasn't much wind - the only saving grace, but that's a biggie. Only six more weeks of winter, thank god. Over a dozen of us trudged around Marymoor Ark this morning. There were birds to see, but overall the species total was fairly pathetic and my hands were cold. And you know what? It was great.
Highlights:
Wood Duck
At least 5, lots of calling
Common Goldeneye
At least a dozen
California Gull
8-10, which is a lot for Marymoor
Barn Owl
Sharon saw it in the next box
WESTERN SCREECH-OWL See the note below, and the photos way
below
Rufous Hummingbird
Several - nice looks
Northern Shrike
At least 2, calling
Fox Sparrow
20-25, some singing
The BARN OWL was *not* visible in the box shortly after 7:00, but Sharon stopped by again at about 11:00a.m. and was able to see it. I think this demonstrates that the adult can be in the box and not be visible. We also had one, barely visible, roosting near the windmill again.
FOX SPARROWS were all over the slough trail through the dog area. They were mixed in with SONG SPARROWS, SPOTTED TOWHEES, and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS, but probably outnumbered those species combined.
Ollie spotted a NORTHERN SHRIKE in the Dog Meadow, and we spent quite a while making sure it wasn't a Loggerhead. At one point it was buzzed by a female RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD. Later, there were 2 shrike at the north end of the East Meadow. They flew off together to the northwest, and at least one of them was calling in flight.
Swallows were almost a no-show. Finally, Ollie spotted one west of the mansion. It turned out VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS were flying very very low over the slough there. We found more at the Rowing Club pond, again flying very low over the water. We had no other swallows today.
The best moment of the morning, by far, though was just after we found those first swallows. Matt turned to me and said, "Wouldn't it be cool if we found a WESTERN SCREECH-OWL in one of these trees? Oh My God - there's one right there." There really was barely time between the first and second sentences for me to actually write them as two sentences. The owl was in just about the very first spot Matt looked, about 8 feet up a young fir. We had close but obscured views of the bird, which was a lifer for one or two people and was a first visible WESO for several more.
Besides the female RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD buzzing the first shrike, we had two males south of the East Meadow, which posed for us nicely. Still no Salmonberry blooming, though we did find some Red-flowering Current in bloom.
We ended up the day with only 49 species, but my wife says the Screech-Owl ought to count for two. If you don't like that math, we also had a LONG-TAILED WEASEL with a mouth full of something furry, which ought to count for something...
== Michael
Female Mallard (left) and male Gadwall (right)
Strangely, the Gadwall shows a white neck ring. Possibly a sign of hybridization with Mallard. Photos by Ollie Oliver
California Gull - photo by Ollie
Ollie's photo of a couple more of the California Gulls.
Ollie managed to get photos of the Western Screech Owl
And a bit of a back view. Photo by Ollie Oliver.