[Tweeters] King County Birding

[Louis]

Hi Tweeters,

Alex Sowers and I decided to do an early season Big Day in King County
today. General route in order was Redmond, Duvall, North Bend, Enumclaw,
Auburn, Des Moines, and North Seattle. Owling in the morning wasn't
productive, but the Snoqualmie River valley kept us entertained with Vaux's
Swift, Evening Grosbeak and American Dipper at Tolt MacDonald,
Yellow-headed Blackbirds (SE 19th Way), and Lesser Goldfinch at Piano Ranch
(thanks Scott for the tip!). Best from Veazie Marsh in Enumclaw was a
calling Sora and a pair of Cinnamon Teal. When we pulled up to M Street
Marsh, Marv told us about the Long-billed Curlew he had just found! It was
still in the main pond when we got out there. We found some of the usual
saltwater species at Saltwater SP and Des Moines pier - Harlequin Ducks
were the highlight. Chipping Sparrow continues to be reliable at Lower
Woodland Park. A Swainson's Hawk headed West was a nice surprise at
Montlake Fill even though we were keeping an eye out for them. The long,
narrow wings and dihedral held in soaring caught my eye right away. Plumage
was pretty pale and we think it was a first year light morph. Carkeek Park
held Hermit Thrush, our second Hammond's Flycatcher of the day, and third
Barred Owl of the day. We opted not to look for owls after dusk, and called
it a day.

Overall a good day, but not a lot in the way of migratory warblers or
shorebirds. There were lots of surprising misses for the day, including
Merlin, Western Sandpiper, Downy Woodpecker, Green Heron, Red-breasted
Merganser, Bonaparte's Gull, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Western Meadowlark,
any owl other than Barred, and any vireo, among others. I suspect starting
the day at a spot like Discovery Park would have provided some of those
species. 115 species for the day. In a week or two, this route could be
very productive!

Louis Kreemer
Seattle
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