[Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2024-03-14

[birdmarymoor]

Tweets - First off, NOBODY brought us pie on Pi Day.  Other than that, though, we had a really good morning at the park.  It was sunny, windless, and while it was a frosty 32 degrees at the start, it reached 50 degrees by the end.  LOT of singing and other signs of the ramping up of the breeding season.
Highlights:     Greater White-fronted Goose - Today, the two were seen from the Lake Platform     American Wigeon - Three amongst the large flock of Mallards on Fields 7-8-9 at sunrise
     Band-tailed Pigeon - One near the east end of the boardwalk.  First of Year (FOY)
     Five Woodpecker Day - With lots of calling and drumming.  Looks at all but Hairy, which called near the windmill
     Shrike sp. - One about 7:15 north of Fields 7-8-9
     Tree Swallow - Somewhere around 6 or 8, seen checking nest boxes both at the Pea Patch and East Meadow (FOY)
     Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Everywhere, with lots of singing, calling, and flashing of ruby crowns
     Varied Thrush - Perhaps 2 heard near the south end of the Dog Area, and one seen near the mansion
     Western Meadowlark - Five in and around the East Meadow, some singing
     coyote - Tracy and I saw one predawn at the Model Airplane Field  (foy)

I was not able to get close enough to the shrike to rule out Loggerhead; we've seen Loggerhead Shrike 3 years previously during this week of the year, accounting for 15% of shrike sightings during Week 11.  That's a high enough ratio that I won't just assume this was a Northern Shrike.  That said, most of our LOSH sightings (in fact, all our other sightings) have been in April.
The Great Blue Heronry is getting very active, with herons sitting down in many of the nests, lots of nest building observed, and one copulation observed as well.
Misses today included Hooded Merganser, Short-billed Gull, Violet-green Swallow, Purple Finch, and American Goldfinch.
For the day, 62 species.  We're up to 78 species for the year.
= Michael Hobbs= BirdMarymoor at gmail.com= www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
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