It was gorgeous before First Crow this morning. The sky
was cloudless and deep, with Venus shining brighter than the gathering
dawn to the east. A low ground fog covered the meadows, so I climbed
the dirt piles at the north end of the East Meadow and watched and
waited. At about 7:10, or maybe just before, a SHORT-EARED OWL
worked its way south from the road along the ditch at the east edge of
the meadow and then disappeared into the fog.
Brian Bell was approaching, and I dreaded having to tell him that he'd
missed the owl by less than two minutes. But Brian called out to me
something I couldn't quite parse. I looked down towards him, only to
come face-to-face with a Short-eared that may have been intending to try
for a morning meal around the Compost Piles. We spotted each other when
the owl was about ten feet away. I didn't have time to flinch before
the owl, startled by my presence, jerked away to the east.
For a while, it seemed like the rest of the day would pale in comparison
to the early owl experience, but no...
There were about a dozen of us this morning, and though the birds were
mostly invisible early on, the day was fine. The early fog lifted to
form a thin overcast though which the sun fought feebly all day. The
birds came in bunches, sometimes with good looks.
Highlights:
Greater White-fronted Goose 10 with Canadas in NE fields
Cackling Goose About 8 with the White-fronts
Wood Duck Still a pair. They get sparse
until March
MERLIN One perched briefly across the
slough
Barn Owl Matt & Scott had at least 1
early
Red-breasted Sapsucker Two, including nice looks at RC
Hairy Woodpecker One in Big Cottonwood Forest
Pileated Woodpecker One across from Rowing Club dock
NORTHERN SHRIKE Nice adult in East Meadow
Orange-crowned Warbler One with bushtits and chickadees
Western Meadowlark One at the East Meadow
Evening Grosbeak Often heard overhead, no good looks
The 10 Greater White-fronted Geese is by far the most we've ever had at
Marymoor at one time. The previous high was 5 on October 16, 2008.
The NORTHERN SHRIKE was very active. It was first spotted on a hawthorn
in the middle of the East Meadow, but it then moved to the willows east
of the meadow, then perhaps all the way north towards the velodrome,
before returning to the cherry trees at the Compost Piles. It then flew
off to the southeast. So it might be covering the entire NE quadrant of
the park.
There were a variety of gulls on the grass soccer fields
at 7:30. The fog and their jumpiness made viewing difficult. There was
one particularly dark large first-winter gull that we think might have
been a Western Gull, but distinguishing field marks were not noted.
We had no Green Heron for the first time since March. Sometimes Green
Herons will stick around sparsely through the winter, and other years
they clear out. We have seen Green Heron all but three weeks of the
year over the last 15+ years. But perhaps this winter will be one of
the winters we don't see them.
For the day, we managed 64 species!
== Michael
http://dartfrogmedia.com/birds/marymoor091022/index.html
Nice fall color, even in the fog
Bewick's Wren
Male Purple Finch eating Oregon Ash seeds
Ruby-crowned Kinget
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Adult Northern Shrike east of the East Meadow
Four of ten Greater White-fronted Geese that were with Canada and Cackling Geese
Hugh Jennings photo of same.
Steller's Jay
Hugh Jennings photo of a Pileated Woodpecker female