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Bird Sightings Week 46
November 12-18*

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• Trumpeter Swan - Three silent birds as the fog cleared.  First of Fall (FOF)
• Common Merganser - Two flying towards the lake.  First in a month
• Hairy Woodpecker - One male, and later one female
• Merlin - Again
• Northern Shrike - East of the East Meadow - (FOF) for the survey
• Varied Thrush - Only seen in high fly-overs - three total
• White-crowned Sparrow - Singing "gambelli" subspecies 

Three silent swans. Photo by Tony Ernst

Luckily, Tony was quick with the camera so we could get a positive ID.

Belted Kingfisher in flight. Photo by Tony Ernst

Northern Shrike east of the East Meadow. Photo by Tony Ernst

Short-eared Owl, 2022-11-16. Photo by Michael Hobbs

Hermit Thrush. Photo by Michael Hobbs

Horned Lark. Photo by Michael Hobbs

Western Meadowlark. Photo by Michael Hobbs

American Tree Sparrow. Photo by Michael Hobbs

American Tree Sparrow. Photo by Michael Hobbs

• Snow Goose – single bird just after 7:30 circled the flock of gulls that were sitting on the grass, seemingly disappointed that white birds with black wingtips weren’t other Snow Geese
• Wood Duck – pair near Rowing Club dock
• Green-winged Teal – three below weir
• Ring-necked Pheasant – heard “Lonesome George II” for the first time in seven weeks – he lives!
• Western Grebe – one on the lake
• Northern Harrier – adult male(!) in the East Meadow – we rarely get adult males at the park
• Great Horned Owl – Eric heard 1 or 2 very early
• Peregrine Falcon – adult perched east of the boardwalk.  At the park we’ve rarely seen perched PEFA and rarely definite adults.   The bird was buzzed by a COOPER’S HAWK
• Cedar Waxwing – quite a few, scattered, hanging with American Robins
• Savannah Sparrow – one still present, East Meadow
• White-throated Sparrow – one with other Zonos NE of the weir
• Western Meadowlark – two seen near model airplane field at 7:15
• Yellow-rumped Warbler – a few scattered sightings, maybe 4 birds in all, after three weeks of “misses”

I got word (and photos) that a LONG-EARED OWL was found dead in the park a couple of days ago  

Highlights:

• Cackling Goose – huge flock (1200+) eventually landed just east of main park entrance
• Wood Duck – female at Rowing Club
• Common Goldeneye – female seen from Lake Platform – First of Fall (FOF)
• Green Heron – Rowing Club pond yet again
• Red-tailed Hawk – I counted 6 – quite a lot, really
• Great Horned Owl – Matt heard many calls predawn – FOF
• RED-NAPED x RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER – in Big Cottonwood Forest south of the dog area
• Hairy Woodpecker – female at Rowing Club
• Merlin – One streaked past just after 7:30
• PEREGRINE FALCON – one flapped past the Viewing Mound just before 7:30
• Northern Shrike – Adult across the street north of Viewing Mound
• Cedar Waxwing – only a few today
• Lincoln’s Sparrow – two at Viewing Mound blackberries
• SWAMP SPARROW – we got great looks at one just below the weir
• Western Meadowlark - 6+ in Triangle Wetland north of Fields 7-8-9
• Yellow-rumped Warbler – one

This was our first SWAMP SPARROW sighting since 2013, and about our 12th ever. It was very cooperative, coming closer and closer, eventually giving everyone good looks. It was in the shrubs around the main channel of the slough, maybe 20 yards below (north of) the weir.

The RED-NAPED x RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER was maybe even more cooperative, giving us a long series of views which allowed many plumage details to be noted. It looked almost good for Red-naped, with two rows of white barring on the back, a black bib bordering the bottom of the red chin/throat, but it had too much red on the back of the head to be pure, and not enough of a complete white swoosh back from the bill. This is only the 5th time such a hybrid has been noted at Marymoor.

Misses for the day were Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Virginia Rail, Ring-billed Gull (though we had many unidentified gulls, so...), Bushtit, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin, all of which have been seen at least 12 of the last 24 years.

But we did end up with 59 species for the day, plus the Sapsucker hybrid. It really was a fabulous day.

= Michael Hobbs

Cackling Geese.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

Cackling Geese.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

House Finch.  Photo by Hugh Jennings

Downy Woodpecker.  Photo by Hugh Jennings

Red-breasted x Red-naped Sapsucker hybrid.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

Red-breasted x Red-naped Sapsucker hybrid.  Photo by Hugh Jennings

Adult Northern Shrike.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

Green Heron.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

Highlights:

• Trumpter Swan - 3 flocks flying south close overhead: 13, 10, and 8 birds respectively
• Northern Pintail - several large flocks flying south - First of Fall I think
• Sharp-shinned Hawk - one
• Cooper's Hawk - one adult, one juvie
• Barn Owl - one in East Meadow around 7am
• Western Screech-Owl - Matt heard one, early
• Northern Saw-whet Owl - Matt heard two together, early
• Notable number of Fox Sparrows, including 8 together once
• Lincoln's Sparrow - first in several weeks

We had many "misses", including having only flicker and no other woodpeckers.

For the day, we managed 49 species

- Michael Hobbs

Spotted Towhee.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

Fox Sparrow.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

Fox Sparrows.  Photo by Hugh Jennings

Five Fox Sparrows and a Golden-crowned Sparrow.  Photo by Hugh Jennings

European Starlings and two Killdeer (far left).  Photo by Hugh Jennings

Adult Cooper's Hawk.  Photo by Hugh Jennings

Trumpeter Swans.  Photo by Bob Asanoma

Highlights:

SNOW GOOSE                    Flock of ~200 flew up the slough about 7:45
Cackling Goose                      Flock of maybe 600 on grass fields
Trumpeter Swan                     Four flew close overhead, CALLING
Greater Scaup                        Lone female with Buffleheads at lake
Common Merganser               Three flew by – first in a month
- small loon -                          Close flyby, which meant we got underside view
Green Heron                          One at Rowing Club pond
W. Screech-Owl                    Matt heard one early
Great Horned Owl                  Matt heard two early near park maintenance bldg.
Pileated Woodpecker             Pair worked apple trees near 3rd dog swim beach
Merlin                                    TWO just south of Dog Area and across slough
HUTTON’S VIREO              One just in front of Clise Mansion
Orange-crowned Warbler       One briefly seen at Pea Patch
Townsend’s Warbler              One just in front of Clise Mansion
WH.-THR SPARROW          One near east footbridge south of East Meadow

The LOON looked like either PACIFIC or RED-THROATED, as it seemed very much Common Merganser sized, and not large and fat like a Common Loon. Very white underside. It flew south past the boardwalk.

The HUTTON’S VIREO is only about our 12th sighting EVER for that species at Marymoor.

For the day, 67-68 species!

= Michael Hobbs

A small portion of the flock of Snow Geese.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Bushtit.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Highlights:

Gr. White-fronted Goose Two with a huge flock of Cacklers
Cackling Goose               ~1250 spent the morning in the NE corner
Trumpeter Swan              5 flew over right at 7:30.
Ring-necked Duck          Two at Rowing Club – First of Fall
Greater Scaup                 Small flock flyover, ID’s by length of white wing stripes
Common Goldeneye        Two females in slough – First of Fall
Northern Saw-whet Owl  Matt heard one near park entrance cedars early
Hairy Woodpecker          First in five weeks
Northern Shrike               Juvenile in middle of Dog Meadow
Bushtit                             Three flocks, after 2 months of rare scattered sightings
Evening Grosbeak            Male perched in Oregon Ash at Rowing Club

We had a total of NINE species of duck this morning, our first fall day with a really good selection of waterfowl.

The large CACKLING GOOSE flock was mostly the minima subspecies but did include several larger Cacklers, presumably Taverners. There was also one minima type that had a lot of white speckling all over the head and neck, and another one that was partially leucistic and was “frosty” all over.

Todd and Lillian both reported AMERICAN KESTREL and NORTHERN HARRIER once the day got warmer. Todd also had a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.

We had 61 species on the walk, plus the three species seen by Todd, for a total of 64 species on a frosty November day. Not bad at all.

== Michael Hobbs

Trumpeter Swan family.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Female Downy Woodpecker  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Female Barrow's Goldeneye.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Female Barrow's Goldeneye.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Killdeer with frost on its back.  Photo by Hugh Jennings

Female Purple Finch.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Adult Bald Eagle.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Adult Greater White-fronted Goose with Cackling Geese.  Photo by Ollie Oliver.

Cackling Geese put to flight by a Bald Eagle.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Juvenile Bald Eagle.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Juvenile Mew Gull with odd tuft of neck feathers.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Mew Gulls, and 2nd winter Ring-billed Gull (left) in flight.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Adult Cooper's Hawk.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Ring-necked Duck pair at Rowing Club.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Male Evening Grosbeak.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Male Evening Grosbeak.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Male Green-winged Teal.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Northern Harrier.  Photo by Lillian Reis

Male American Kestrel.  Photo by Lillian Reis

Male American Kestrel.  Photo by Lillian Reis

Eastern Gray Squirrel.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Male American Kestrel, 2014-11-11.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Adult Northern Shrike, 2014-11-11.  Photo by Vickie Scales

Bewick's Wren, 2014-11-11.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

White-crowned Sparrow juvenile, 2014-11-11.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Song Sparrow, 2014-11-11.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

We had birds in little spurts, and nothing terribly notable. The CLAY-COLORED SPARROW seems to have moved on, maybe with the SAVANNAH SPARROWS. We found neither today, and I couldn’t find any eBird reports of those species at Marymoor from after Veteran’s Day.

Here are some of the highlights we *did* have:

Wood Duck                        Drake at lake
Green-winged Teal              3 at Rowing Club
Ring-necked Duck              1 at RC – First of Fall
Common Goldeneye           1 female at lake, First of Fall
Common Merganser            Five flew north at about 7:45
Hairy Woodpecker              Male in East Meadow
Northern Shrike                   Adult this week (I had a very brown juvenile last week)
Varied Thrush                      Male near windmill
American Pipit                     Heard twice over Compost Piles
Purple Finch                        Two, East Meadow, after 3 week absence

For the day, 57 species.

== Michael Hobbs

Male Hairy Woodpecker.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Dark-eyed Junco.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

This Varied Thrush was so high up a tree, we had trouble seeing the field marks.
 Photo by Ollie Oliver

Yellow-rumped Warbler, showing it's distinctive tail markings in flight.
Photo by Ollie Oliver

Female Green-winged Teal at the Rowing Club.  Note how different angles change
the apparent color of the green specula.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Marsh Wren.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Marsh Wren.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Highlights: FOF=First of Fall

Greater(?) Scaup                      FOF – about 4 at lake
Common Goldeneye                 FOF
Northern Harrier                      Working the north end of the East Meadow
Merlin                                      Sharon and Ollie both saw one
WILSON’S SNIPE                 GREAT LOOKS below weir, at least 8
Barn Owl                                 Only owl, despite lots of searching for others
Pileated Woodpecker              Heard at both N & S ends of park
Common Raven                       Sharon saw one, harassed by crows
Varied Thrush                          Sharon heard one
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER One near Dog Central

This was just the 8th ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER sighting we’ve ever had for the Nov.-Feb. timeframe, with the previous sightings on 01-Nov-07, 07-Nov-01, 21-Nov-01, 30-Nov-01, 19-Dec-01, 24-Dec-01, 09-Jan-02, and 19-Jan-95 (and no sightings for February). Today's bird gave us some really nice looks.

For the day, we just eked out 60 species, but that included several species seen/heard only by one or two people. Still, not bad for a foggy day in November.

== Michael Hobbs

Three Wilson's Snipe below the weir.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

There are five Wilson's Snipe in this shot.

The weather could have been way worse. By the time we started this morning, it was over 40 degrees, and at least partly sunny (and getting sunnier). The wind was dropping down to where it was only gusty, but without much sustained wind, at least at times. We didn't get any rain.

There was still enough wind, though, to keep the little birds mostly hidden away and quiet. But we did okay for a November day.

Highlights:

Northern Shoveler               2 in the slough - First of Fall (FOF)
Ring-necked Duck              5 at the Rowing Club pond - FOF
Common Goldeneye            Male in slough - FOF
Merlin                                 1 at RC. Seen 15 of 46 weeks in 2011!
Great Horned Owl              Matt & Scott had many looks before 6:30 am
Northern Shrike                  Seen both from Compost Piles and north of 7-8-9
                                           (same bird, we believe)

We also ended up with some pretty nice looks at various common birds, such as GOLDEN-CROWNED and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, and BROWN CREEPER.

For the day, 53 species.

== Michael Hobbs

Northern Shoveler.  Photo by Ollie Oliver

Cold, blowy, and sometimes rainy, the weather didn't give us much hope for birds.  Adding in the incessant noise of leaf blowers from all quarters, along with the swish-swish sound from people's rain pants, and more dog/dog owner noises than usual, birding by ear was really tough.

But early on, Matt heard a chip note and immediately called it right.  The chip note sounded a bit like White-throated Sparrow only a bit sweeter, perhaps.  We were about 100 yards north (downstream) from the weir, and the calls were coming from the edge of the blackberries.  Matt pulled out his iPod, and after an EXTENSIVE effort, we got some quick views of a SWAMP SPARROW.  Based on the chip notes, there might have been two birds present.

We had a LONG quiet spell after that, without too much to be seen.  The Rowing Club, though, also proved delightful.

Highlights:

Wood Duck                 Pair in slough
Northern Shoveler        1 female at Rowing Club.   First of Fall.
Green Heron                 Still on the west edge of the RC pond
Merlin                           Flew by while we were looking at the SWSP
Wilson's Snipe              Amazing look at RC pond
Hairy Woodpecker       Along east edge of East Meadow
Northern Shrike            Juvenile again in East Meadow
SWAMP SPARROW  As noted above

For the day, we managed 54 species.

== Michael

Swamp Sparrow
This Northern Flicker looked like a Yellow-shafted form in flight...

Before and after a touch of dawn fog, we had an absolutely gorgeous day at Marymoor today.  It was chilly but windless, and when the sun shone, it was very pleasant.  Not too terribly birdy, but there were some good, if brief, sightings.

Upon arriving home this evening, I was greeted by an email from Tom Sanders, with links to photos.  At about 1:00 p.m., he had a stunning male MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD in the East Meadow.  We've never had a fall bluebird sighting before, and I cannot find any reference to a November western Washington Mountain Bluebird sighting ever.  Does anyone have one?  (I found records from every other month, but with very few October sightings and no November).

There was one other sighting that I'll mention here.  I'm almost positive of ID, but because the sighting was brief and of birds in flight only, I'm refraining from adding this species to the Marymoor list right now.  As some of us were walking the north edge of the East Meadow, I heard waxwing-like calls from a flock of fast-flying birds - only the call was a kind of churring call.  I called out "waxwing", but my sense was that they seemed large and grayer.  I also noted some white spots on the upper wing in flight.  It penetrated my consciousness that these might (or some of these might) be BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS.  I tried, as they flew away, to get a confirming look at undertail coverts.  They *seemed* dark, but the birds were past so quickly, I cannot be 100% positive.  They were heading west, and we were unable to locate any waxwings subsequently.  I'm so, so, so close to being sure that's what they were.  But...

Other highlights:

Cackling Goose            Flocks totaling at least 500
Northern Pintail            A small flock flew down slough
Northern Harrier          Adult male, flying very high, heading south
Cooper's Hawk           Gorgeous adult at Compost Piles
Pileated Woodpecker  Two sightings on far side of slough
Winter Wren                Like last week, singing east of weir
Purple Finch                Again in tiny Ash at 2nd dog beach
Evening Grosbeak       One flew circles around Compost Piles calling

For the day, 53 species.

== Michael

I think the rain stopped about 6:00 a.m. (Matt and Scott, who were already birding at that hour might be able to be more precise on the timing).  The morning was still cloudy to start, with a few breezy gusts, but it turned into a gorgeous morning.

Birds were about, probably glad for a break in the weather.  For some reason, we didn't manage that many really close sightings of most species, but things were definitely around.

The water level was about 1' 3" higher than last week!   (And about 4" higher than yesterday morning)  This meant flooding near the start of the boardwalk, and generally muddy conditions elsewhere. Rubber boots were definitely called for.

Matt and Scott had BARN OWLs, Matt with 2 at the windmill, and another flying over the road; Scott had one over the East Meadow.  Scott also flushed a SHORT-EARED OWL.  Those guys were out birding about the time I got up for the day...

We had the usual 5 species of gulls for this time of year at Marymoor - mostly MEW GULLs, with about 10% GLAUCOUS-WINGED and "Olympic" Gulls, a few RING-BILLED GULLS,  at least one CALIFORNIA GULL, and one pure-looking WESTERN GULL.  All of these were swirling around the grass fields early on. With one group was a small shorebird, probably a DUNLIN.

The biggest surprise was an amazingly late-season VAUX'S SWIFT that was generally above the weir area at about 8:00 a.m.  This is fully 6 weeks later than we've ever had one before.

Large flocks of CACKLING GEESE flew overhead before about 8:30.  Some of those flocks had a few CANADA GEESE as well.  In all, we had 400-500 Cacklers, though none on the ground.

A NORTHERN SHRIKE (I think only one) gave us many good looks.  It was ranging over a large area, from the model airplane field all the way over to the Pea Patch (though never seen north of the road, and usually within about 100 yards of it.)  A very nice adult bird.  This was our first look at a shrike at Marymoor this fall, although Tom Sanders photographed possibly the same one on the 4th - see the next issue of WOSNews.

We had many accipiter sightings (at least 3-4 different birds and more sightings).  I'm confident we had both Sharpie and Cooper's, but I was definitely not able to tell on several of the sightings

Duck numbers continue to be low.  We had a few MALLARD, about a dozen BUFFLEHEAD, a somewhat late WOOD DUCK, and several HOODED MERGANSER.  John Tubbs reported some GREEN-WINGED TEAL, but that was it for ducks.

For the day, 59 species (and no mammals, curiously enough).

== Michael

A flock at least substantially comprising Cacking Geese
though there may be a Canada Goose or two

Northern Shrike near model airplane field

Lincoln's Sparrow at the Compost Piles

Lincoln's Sparrow watching a Song Sparrow zip past.

Northern Shrike, north of grass soccer fields 7-8-9

Bufflehead pair at Rowing Club

Flooded fungi

This mushroom, in the East Meadow, was about 2" tall

A few highlights:

Hundreds of CACKLING GEESE flew into the park and landed on the grass soccer fields between about 7:10 and 7:30, and remained at least for the whole morning. They easily outnumbered CANADA GEESE. Most were clearly minima subspecies. There were some geese that were intermediate between the big Canadas and the small minimas; whether they were small CANGs or large CACGs, I don't know. I took some photos, but I'm stumped at this point as to how to identify the muddle in the middle.

The slough edge was active with PINE SISKINS. We watched one flock of 50+ fly around the first dog swim area, but further down there seemed to be many more, with groups of 20-30 flying from treetop to treetop and generally being everywhere in that strip of riparian corridor between the weir and the south end of the dog area. 75? 100? 200? more? Hard to say. Nice to have large numbers back after the last couple of winters.

A juvenile TRUMPETER SWAN was a surprise. We found it floating down the slough a the 3rd dog swim beach, and it quickly drifted towards the weir. I *so* wanted it to be Tundra, but I must confess that it wasn't. This is the second time I've ever had a juvenile swan at Marymoor, both Trumpeters, both in the slough above the weir. We've had adults fly over the park 14 times. Of those, the ones that called were all Trumpeters, but most flocks were silent or too far up/away to hear. So Trumpeter Swan is on the park list and Tundra remains stubbornly off.

A First-Of-Fall COMMON GOLDENEYE, a female, was at the lake with a few BUFFLEHEADS and a HOODED MERGANSER. There were 25-30 Bufflehead today, the most we've had this fall. And we had 10+ Hoodies, 4 at the Rowing Club and the rest at the lake. But duck diversity and numbers are still very low.

There were at least a couple of flyby AMERICAN PIPITS, including one that called very close to our heads at the south end of the East Meadow as it flew by.

A single TOWNSEND'S WARBLER popped out among Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Brown Creeper northeast of the mansion.

A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, heavily laden with prey, was flushed by three off-leash dogs near the mansion. It flew up the path right past us, at an elevation of about three feet, then disappeared into the shrubbery. I think it was carrying a Spotted Towhee, but it went by too suddenly to be sure.

At the Rowing Club, a WILSON'S SNIPE gave us a close look at the near edge of the pond before scuttling out of view behind some branches.

For the day, 54 species. For the year, 154 species.

== Michael

Just to confuse the issue further, local Washington swan expert, Martha Jordan, feels that this was a TUNDRA SWAN, not a Trumpeter.

Presumed small Canada Geese with minima Cackling Geese.

Minima Cackling Geese.

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Bird Sightings Week 46
November 12-18*
*adjust by 1 day in leap years

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