[Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2024-08-01

[Michael Hobbs via Tweeters]

Tweets - Today is the cross-quarter day, halfway between the Summer
Solstice and the Autumn Equinox.  For the Celts, this was Lughnasadh,
marking the beginning of the harvest season.  I like to think of it as th
start of Fall, with respect to birding around here. Ours was gorgeous, with
sun, crystal clear skies, not a breath of wind, and temps mostly in the
60's.  It's a tricky time of year, where a majority of individual birds are
young of the year who often sound, act, range, and fly rather differently
than how they will when grown.

Today also marked the first anniversary of Brian Bell's last Marymoor
Survey.  We miss him.

Highlights:
     Canada Goose - Coalescing into larger and larger flocks.  Appears to
have been a successful nesting season
     Pied-billed Grebe - One seen from Lake Platform was just our 2nd since
April
     Spotted Sandpiper - Spotless bird at weir
     Green Heron - One at weir, later one at Lake Platform:  same bird???
     Barred Owl - Tony had one pre-dawn, our 4th record of the year
     BANK SWALLOW - Two birds seen from the Lake Platform, First of Year
(FOY), and just our 15th sighting ever
     Tree Swallow - Quite a few seen, including at least 1 still-active
nest.  Usually, they are leaving the park soon
     Purple Martin - Active at the gourds, including bringing in nesting
materials.  2nd clutches?
     Black-throated Gray Warbler - Two, or more probably several, west edge
of Dog Meadow
     Wilson's Warbler - Male singing and moving around briskly.  Possibly
more than one.  First of Fall (FOF)
     Western Tanager - One adult male along west edge of Dog Meadow

We were long-delayed near the Dog Area portapotties, trying to track down a
continuously-repeated two-syllable call coming slightly more often than
every two seconds.  The repetitious calling was suggestive of Hutton's
Vireo, only pitched lower and slightly slower, perhaps.  MERLIN was
useless, occasionally identifying it as Red-eyed Vireo.

Matt figured it was PURPLE FINCH, and we're 99.9% sure that he was right;
we tracked the song down to a very small cluster of rather short trees that
had many Purple Finch actively feeding (and being fed).  I never actually
saw one of them making the song, but there were no other birds present.

Misses today included Vaux's Swift, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk,
Violet-green Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, and Brown-headed
Cowbird.

For the day, 56 species.  For the year, adding Bank Swallow, 128 species.

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