[Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2025-09-25

[Alan Roedell via Tweeters]

Interesting natural history account.
Well done, thank you for sharing.

On Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 8:24 PM Michael Hobbs via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> I wanted to add some notes, because several people have commented

> about both Osprey and Band-tailed Pigeon occurrences in fall.

>

> First, my comments about the likelihood of these species was strictly

> relevant only to Marymoor and specifically to the Marymoor Survey.

>

> With regards to Osprey, our next survey is not until October 2.  While

> it is likely that Osprey might be seen during the next 6 days, we've

> only had Osprey sightings in 9 out of 31 years after October 1st, so

> it's quite likely we've seen our last for the 2025 Survey.  Also, even

> though we've had Osprey as late as December 15th, there's no reason to

> believe any Osprey that nested at Marymoor are still around by

> October.  What we've noted in those 9 years are almost certainly birds

> from further north who are migrating south.  They may catch a fish to

> eat while at the park, but they aren't living at the park.  If they

> were still resident, we'd see them more often during the 4-5 hours

> we're at the park each Thursday morning.

>

> BTW, this is true of many species.  Our nesting Savannah Sparrows seem

> to clear out pretty quickly after nesting season, and we have a big

> drop in numbers and even gaps in occurance.  Then, in late August and

> September, we get a push of Savannahs through the park.  These birds

> tend to be in locks of up to a dozen, and appear larger and brighter

> than our nesting birds. I've heard that the American Robins that nest

> around Seattle mostly leave, being replaced during winter by robins

> who nested further north.  The breeding Fox Sparrows in our mountains

> are a different subspecies than our wintering lowland Fox Sparrows, so

> even though Fox Sparrows are present all year round in the state,

> there may be no individual which lives in the state all the time.

>

> As for Band-tailed Pigeons, Marymoor is not at all an ideal habitat

> for them; not for breeding, and especially not in winter.  There are

> wintering Band-tails in the county, and several people have them at

> their feeders in the winter, but they are pretty much only at (or

> often just flying over) Marymoor during the summer when they are

> nesting in nearby areas.  We've had no indication that they nest in

> the park.  And many Band-tailed Pigeons do migrate south.  We were

> just in Klickitat County on the Columbia River over the weekend, and 3

> or 4 times we saw tight flocks of dozens of Band-tailed Pigeons flying

> around.  These are almost certainly migrants who were massing for the

> flight across the river, something they likely do at night to avoid

> Peregrine Falcons.

>

> One of the things that make Washington a great place to bird is the

> incredible number of micro-habitats.  Even at the county level, we

> typically have great diversity of habitats, such that every county has

> a long list of species possible.  Within King County, birds are very

> definitely not uniformly distributed, even when you adjust for

> elevation.  What's true about Marymoor is not necessarily true about

> other places that are quite close to the park.  Marymoor has no

> natural conifer forest, with pretty much all of the conifers being in

> an equal-aged stand of Doug Firs around the mansion.  Parks mows under

> those trees, so there isn't a trace of the typical understory of a

> conifer forest.  Thus, Marymoor has no breeding Pacific Wrens,

> although they nest in forested areas just upslope from Lake Sammamish.

> For Marymoor, Pac wrens are only a winter species (probably comprising

> individuals that nested in areas of the Cascades that get covered by

> snow).  The lack of conifers extends to the park not having any good

> mixed forest areas, so Hutton's Vireos are very unusual in the park.

> Hutton's seem to prefer wet forests with a mix of deciduous trees

> ,madrones, and conifers (especially Red Cedars).  Hutton's are common

> on Mercer Island and at Lincoln Park, but not at Marymoor.

>

> Marymoor does, itself, have a great mix of habitats.  We make up for

> the absence of good conifer forests by having better grasslands than

> much of the county. Thus we have a pretty good chance for meadowlarks,

> shrikes, Savannah Sparrows, etc. than many parts of the county.  Lake

> Sammamish is a large enough lake to lure in some diversity of water

> birds.  Marymoor is also large enough to be visible to fly-over birds

> as a bit of a green oasis.  That likely explains how we can have a

> park list currently at 246 species.

>

> And all of this is why I can still find great interest and enjoyment

> in birding at the park, even after more than 31 years.

>

> = Michael Hobbs

> = BirdMarymoor at gmail.com

> = www.marymoor.org/birding.htm

>

> On Thu, Sep 25, 2025 at 12:31 PM Michael Hobbs <birdmarymoor at gmail.com>

> wrote:

> >

> > Tweets - A pretty good day at Marymoor.  Though a bit nippy (49

> > degrees at the start), it was sunny and windless.  Fairly birdy too.

> >

> > Highlights:

> >      Band-tailed Pigeon - Two sightings of a single bird.  We get

> > fairly few sightings after mid-September

> >      Wilson's Snipe - Two landed in the mud on the far side of the

> > slough opposite one of the Dog Beaches.  Great looks, unusual location

> >      Osprey - Only one silent bird; nests are empty.  We are unlikely

> > to get another sighting this year

> >      American Kestrel - One in the East Meadow

> >      Merlin - One streaked by us near the start of our walk; thus a

> > two falcon day

> >      Ruby-crowned Kinglet - At least one, singing weakly near Dog

> > Central, never seen.  First of Fall (FOF)

> >      Pacific Wren - One at the Rowing Club, heard calling but not seen

> (FOF)

> >      Swainson's Thrush - One heard pre-dawn, probably the last for the

> year

> >      Western Meadowlark - Five in the East Meadow (FOF)

> >

> > We also had a tight flock of more than a dozen pale-bellied ducks

> > flying down the slough fairly high - possibly American Wigeon, but

> > hard to be sure.

> >

> > Misses today included Hooded Merganser, American Coot, California

> > Gull, Green Heron, Red-tailed Hawk, Bushtit (though I had some

> > yesterday in the Dog Meadow), American Pipit (though we might have

> > heard one), Savannah Sparrow, and Orange-crowned Warbler.

> >

> > Despite the rather long list of misses, we still managed 56 species

> > (not counting the mystery ducks).  Not a bad day.

> >

> > = Michael Hobbs

> > = BirdMarymoor at gmail.com

> > = www.marymoor.org/birding.htm

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