Prev |
Bird Sightings Week 50
|
Next |
Rarities for Week 50:
| Hairy Woodpecker | 14-Dec-17 | "Rocky Mountain" form |
| Bohemian Waxwing | 14-Dec-23 | Lone bird at the Rowing Club |
| Swamp Sparrow | 16-Dec-10 | Two birds, different locations |
Report for December 14, 2023 Birding at Marymoor
| The weather was much better than last week, but for the first few hours the fog was either thick or thicker. Once we were past the Lake Platform, though, it thinned out quite a bit. Not too cold, not windy, and no precipitation, so an above-average day for November. Highlights
Misses today included Common Merganser, Anna's Hummingbird, Short-billed Gull (though we had a quick flyover flock that looked likely), California Gull (though there were many gulls we couldn't ID in the fog), Northern Shrike, Cedar Waxwing, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. For the day, 53 species, but about eight of those were heard-only. = Michael Hobbs |
|
|
|
|
Report for December 15, 2022 Birding at Marymoor
| High fog seemed to hold the cold beneath it this morning, but the frosty start was fairly quickly moderated as the fog dispersed. A really pretty morning with some fairly good birding, although long stretches of quiet continue to be the norm.
Highlights:
Despite it being still about a week until the solstice, singing is picking up. Birds heard singing today included Brown Creeper, Dark-eyed Junco, Golden-crowned Sparrow, and Red-winged Blackbird.
Misses today included Bushtit, Pine Siskin, and Lincoln's Sparrow. A late scan of the lake turned up a dozen RING-NECKED DUCKS, or they'd appear on this list too.
For the day, 55 species.
= Michael Hobbs
|
|
|
|
|
Report for December 16, 2021 Birding at Marymoor
|
The weather really wasn’t very cooperative this morning. Matt and I had good owling weather from about 5:10-6:10, and late in the main survey it got pretty nice. But between about 6:15 and 10:30 it was wet and cold with pretty continuous mizzle and drizzle. Dark too. We did the walk anyway, and we did see some birds as we usually do.
Highlights:
A late scan of the lake turned up the only COMMON MERGANSERS (5), WESTERN GREBE (5), and HORNED GREBE (1) of the day, and was highlighted by a flyover of two calling TRUMPETER SWANS.
We barely heard a very few PINE SISKIN and had no sign of last week’s Common Redpoll.
This was only our 5th December record of ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.
Misses included Hooded Merganser, Rock Pigeon, Short-billed Gull (though there were about 25 gull sp. far off that we didn’t get a good look at), Cooper’s Hawk, Marsh Wren, Purple Finch, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Red-winged Blackbird.
Despite the long list of misses, we had 57 species.
= Michael Hobbs
|
Report for December 13, 2018 Birding at Marymoor
| Well, there have to be a few bad weeks to make the rest of birding look good. Today was dark, damp, and devoid of birds, though things picked up a little at the end.
Highlights?
All of those highlights came from the East Meadow and after... Mammals included a BEAVER from the Lake Platform and a River Otter in the Rowing Club pond. Misses today included Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Wilson’s Snipe, Ring-billed Gull, Brown Creeper, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Red-winged Blackbird. Those were almost joined by NORTHERN FLICKER, not seen until our way out of the Rowing Club. I’ll be back Saturday morning for the Eastside Audubon CBC, so maybe the week list will improve. Until then, it’s at 52 species today (which included “Pinwidgeons” – a flock of American Wigeon and/or Northern Pintail). == Michael Hobbs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report for December 14, 2017 Birding at Marymoor
| A gorgeous morning with lots of birds today. Owls were a highlight, with everyone getting to see a day-roosting Barn Owl, and with two more species seen pre-dawn. More than 1000 Cackling Geese were also special.
Highlights:
After the walk, I made a quick scan of the lake, trying to confirm the identity of the SCAUP (3 were LESSER, a 4th may have been GREATER), and to figure out if a grebe we’d seen had been WESTERN or HORNED GREBE – still don’t know, since I was able to find one Horned and four Western on the late scan. :) New for the list were one male HOODED MERGANSER and 7 COMMON MERGANSERS. I also had a large numbers of PIED-BILLED GREBE (30+) and BUFFLEHEAD (80+), where we’d had about 2 and 15 respectively from the Lake Platform. After weeks of limited/no sightings of ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRDS, we had males on all of their usual territorial perches today. Maybe the coming solstice is telling them to get back to their spots and attract some females. For the day, 63 species, which is pretty decent for December. == Michael Hobbs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report for December 15, 2016 Birding at Marymoor
| A remarkably nice day, with temps hovering around the freeze, almost no breeze at all, and a thin blanket of high clouds that occasionally showed blue. It gave us comfortable conditions and good light. The geese dominated the scene, but there was more to see too.
Highlights: Gr. Wh.-fronted Goose Two with Cackling Geese The CACKLING GEESE were amazing, with huge flocks flying in and landing right around 8:00 a.m. Later, they were split into 2-4 flocks on the fields, and when spooked, they’d rearrange themselves. So they were a constant presence in the air and on the ground. We also saw 2 COYOTE on the far side of the slough. Matt saw American Beaver pre-dawn near the lake platform. For the day, 60 species. == Michael Hobbs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report for December 10, 2015 Birding at Marymoor
| Not the nicest day for birding. At least the thunder and lightening that Matt walked through in the early pre-dawn didn’t stick around. Instead, we got a little of everything, including a moment when we could see our shadows. But mostly it was some combination of dark overcast, paler overcast, gusty winds, rain, and pleasant. Very changeable, and rarely pleasant. Rarely birdy too.
The park is also significantly flooded. There was nearly a foot of water over the trail as we approached the boardwalk, and zero to six inches of water over the boardwalk. There was about 15 inches of water leading to the Rowing Club dock. As I was wearing 15 inch boots, I only got close before deciding there wasn’t much purpose in going all the way. Highlights: Cackling Goose Some moderately large flocks, never landed. Matt had COYOTE and AMERICAN BEAVER in his pre-dawn walk. For the day, just 45 species. CACKLING GEESE were our only geese, MALLARD were the only dabbling ducks, we managed to count 3 species of gulls in some large flocks but might have missed others as the flock was VERY flighty due to a Bald Eagle, and HOUSE FINCH was our only finch. Remarkably, I heard no real complaints from the 15 birders. It wasn’t cold (47 degrees), so it wasn’t miserable. And we did see some things. == Michael Hobbs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report for December 11, 2014 Birding at Marymoor
| The weather wasn’t horrible. It was dark. It was occasionally gusty. We got our first drops of rain right at our 8:00 a.m. start time, it was raining when we left the Rowing Club at noon, and it was raining for much of the time in between. It wasn’t horrible, not really. But after about 9:30, it was QUIET. Most of the birding highlights involved birds flying overhead, as if in search of a safe haven.
Highlights: SNOW GOOSE One with a small flock of Cacklers overhead Notable were the misses today: Ring-billed Gull, Northern Flicker, and Steller’s Jay. And today’s near-misses: Spotted Towhee not *seen* until the Rowing Club. Ditto for Song Sparrow, though both had been heard once or twice. European Starling reported only by Ollie Oliver. House Finch and Red-breasted Nuthatch only heard by Matt. For the day, 54 species, which isn’t a horrible total. == Michael Hobbs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report for December 12, 2013 Birding at Marymoor
| It was froggy this morning. Hmm. I guess that portmanteau of frosty and foggy doesn’t work very well. Fosty? Anyway, it was 29 degrees and foggy at 8:00 a.m., and the fog didn’t lift until the skies clouded over above and the wind picked up, around 10:30. Even though the temps (29-39) were a lot warmer than last week (20-32), it felt way colder today, with the damp cold and the late breeze. With the fog, we managed to completely miss the few minutes of sunshine that some people had. I think some of the birds few uphill to escape the cold, damp fog...
Highlights: Gr. White-fronted Goose One with Cacklers That’s about it for highlights. Not terribly exciting, actually. There have been some species notably absent recently. Scaup have been unusually scarce, though we might have had a pair today. Gulls have been almost completely absent throughout this cold spell, with only a few Glaucous-winged Gulls present, and at most a flyover of a black-wing-tipped gull or two. We haven’t had a Barn Owl since late October, and have only had one glimpse of what may have been a Short-eared Owl all fall/winter so far. Our last Northern Shrike was three weeks ago. The most surprising has been a complete lack of White-crowned Sparrows, with only one sighing since mid-October; they’re usually a near-certainty at this time of year. And finches of all kinds have been very, very hard to find. We’ve only managed three sightings each for Purple Finch and American Goldfinch since October, House Finch numbers have been very low, and Pine Siskins have been absent altogether. I did manage a couple of late sightings – Hooded Merganser at the lake, and American Wigeon in the slough at the north end of the park, to get our day total teetering right at 50 species. == Michael Hobbs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Report for December 13, 2012 Birding at Marymoor
| It was overcast, but with no precipitation after 7:00 a.m., and no wind, and fairly warm, so it made for a pleasant December outing. Nothing much really unusual showed up. We did pretty well, especially given that everybody’s minds seemed to be on CBCs, travel, holidays, and other things today :)
Highlights: There were 1200-1500 CACKLING GEESE that spent the day on the grass soccer fields. At one point, an adult BALD EAGLE flew NW from down near the lake, passing over the fields. All the geese took off, but the eagle seemed not to notice them at all. The flock also contained four GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. We had one WESTERN GREBE well out on the lake. They’re much more prevalent at Lake Samm State Park. After three straight weeks without a Coop, and two weeks without a Sharpie, we had at least 3-4 accipiters today, with both SHARP-SHINNED and COOPER’S HAWK represented. AMERICAN COOTS in the slough numbered 80-100, which is the most we’ve had at the park since April of 2007. The last time I recorded more than 25 birds was in November, 2009, where I noted 50. We managed 4 species of WOODPECKERS, with all of the usuals except Pileated. We had 1-2 VARIED THRUSH amongst the numerous Robins near the mansion. RED CROSSBILLS were again numerous around the mansion area, and at the Rowing Club. My estimate of 25 was probably conservative. PINE SISKINS were very numerous, but the relatively few flocks that landed close to us did not appear to contain any redpolls. At the Rowing Club, there was one TURTLE (a RED-EARED SLIDER) pulled out on a log, only the second time I’ve noted a turtle in December. Big misses for the day included Ring-billed Gull (though none of the gull flocks landed for our perusal), Northern Shrike (just the 2nd time this winter we’ve missed them), Marsh Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, and Purple Finch. Even so, we managed 56 species. That doesn’t include a “large owl” (probably Great Horned) that Matt had early, nor the possible Northern Saw-whet Owls that teased Matt and Josh separately in the pre-dawn. (We did have at least 2 BARN OWLS though). == Michael Hobbs |
|
 Male House Finch. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Dark-eyed Junco. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Mule deer buck swam across the lake. Photo by Hugh Jennings |
 Mule deer buck swam across the lake. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Greater White-fronted Geese with Cackling Geese. Christmas Bird Count tip: count the orange legs and divide by two. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Northern Flicker. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Male Bufflehead. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Female Hairy Woodpecker. |
 Interesting clouds to the west |
 Sunlit snowy Cascade Mountains to the east |
Report for December 15, 2011 Birding at Marymoor
|
It was gray and intermittently drizzly today, but really not too bad, though more than a touch dark. Birds came and went, but it wasn't terribly birdy. We did have a good day for ducks: 8 species, which is good at Marymoor. |
|
 Male Purple Finch. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Male Purple Finch eating Oregon Ash seeds. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
Report for December 16, 2010 Birding at Marymoor
|
The rain stopped by 7:30 a.m., so we had a nice morning with blotchy overcast skies. Not too cold. No wind. Couldn't ask for much better. |
|
 Great Blue Heron |
 Great Blue Heron |
 Swamp Sparrow in the Dog Meadow |
 Greater White-fronted Geese. Photo by Lillian Reis |
 Female Common Merganser |
 Flooded boardwalk and lake platform from lake |
 Adult Bald Eagle |
 Fungi on an alder snag. This fungus shows just days or weeks before the snag falls. Photo by Hugh Jennings |
 Drowned Long-tailed (?) Vole. I saw three of these, and surely there were many more 2010-12-15 |
 Mew Gulls, 2010-12-15 |
 Killdeer, 2010-12-15 |
 American Wigeon with Mew Gulls, 2010-12-15 |
Report for December 10, 2009
|
What a frosty gem of a day. It was only TEN DEGREES at 8AM, but the sun was shining, there was no fog except the merest wisps over the slough, and it was windless. We were "shakin' our little HOTTiES" to stay warm, but the sun and the abundant birds helped too. |
 Mt. Rainier from the model airplane field, 7:45AM  Pied-billed Grebe in the misty slough |
 Ollie Oliver's portrait of a Bushtit |
 Dark eye indicates male |
 Golden-crowned Sparrows |
 Hugh Jennings got this great shot of the Merlin at the east end of Snag Row |
 Hugh Jennings got great photos of hoar frost on the dock railing |
 This one of Hugh's was the frost on the boardwalk railing |
 Partially leucistic Dark-eyed Junco near the new shops |
 Another shot showing the other side of the head |
 Three Northern Shovelers. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Red-breasted Sapsucker. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Townsend's Warbler. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 ... and away. Photo by Ollie Oliver |
 Male Downy Woodpecker, 2009-12-04. Photo by Lillian Reis |
 American Robin eating haws from a European Hawthorn, 2009-12-05. Photo by Brian Dobbins |
Report for December 11, 2008
|
A mild. windless morning today. Not so many small birds, but still a great day of birding. There were, I believe, 15 birders. Highlights: The early birders had BARN OWL at two locations, and a NORTHERN HARRIER. As we gathered at 8:00, huge flocks of (primarily) CACKLING GEESE flew overhead, all looking for a place to land, then deciding not to stop at Marymoor. My estimate is 2000 geese, by far the most we've had of that species ever. There were probably a dozen large flocks, often multiple flocks overhead at once, plus countless small flocks of ~20. Late in the morning, Matt found some on the ground in the park, amongst which was a single GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. Nearing 9:00 a.m., a flock of 10 TRUMPETER SWANS flew overhead, towards Lake Sammamish Minutes later, another flock of 41+ flew past, followed by a flock of 14, for a total of at least 65 SWANS! Soon after, a raptor was spotted in Snag Row. Distant looks were inconclusive, so we hurried closer. While we were on the chase, a NORTHERN SHRIKE landed in Snag Row a dozen trees west of the raptor. The raptor was finally positively identified as a juvenile PEREGRINE FALCON, and it then flew strongly to the south. At the south end of the Dog Meadow, we had a small accipiter which we puzzled over. Several field marks indicated COOPER'S, but the overall proportions looked more like Sharpie. Shoopers? Carpie? We decided 85% confidence on Cooper's and left it at that. On reviewing photos, it appears to be the same bird that we confidently called a Cooper's the week before. Lots of great looks at PURPLE FINCH today, working the few Oregon Ash trees We found a very nice male AMERICAN KESTREL that seemed to have an ffinity for the corners of soccer goals - it roamed the whole of the grass soccer field area, mostly landing only on the corner posts. The picnic shelter SE of the mansion is surrounded by conifers, and when we stopped there, they were hopping. A flock of GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS caught our eyes first, but they were quickly followed by a flock of BUSHTITS. Next up were two BROWN CREEPER. We managed to find one or two CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, and a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. I had to leave early, so I raced over to the Rowing Club ahead of the others, and I'm afraid I had the better of it. I was greeted by two RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS, then our only flock of PINE SISKIN for the day. The pond held two WILSON'S SNIPE, a drake RING-NECKED DUCK, and a couple of female HOODED MERGANSERS. From the Rowing Club dock, I caught sight of the only AMERICAN COOT and COMMON GOLDENEYE of the day, one each. Finally, as I got to the car, I was able to spot a HOUSE SPARROW across the street. For the day, 54 species. = Michael |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Okay - maybe I'm getting carried away. But there are so many different |
Report for December 13, 2007
| The morning started dark and cloudy, but the rain held off for the first couple of hours. Then it stopped holding off. Between about 10:30 and noon, the rain slowly grew in intensity. It wasn't exactly pouring, even when we left, but I was more than damp.
The birds were somewhat scarce, and often hard to see in the dim light. Let us be thankful that, after next week, the days will be getting longer again! Despite the rain, I made the executive decision to trudge over to the Velodrome, where we found the large flock of CACKLING GEESE, mixed with enough CANADAs to get a good size comparison. There was also an adult GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE amongst them. Other highlights: SWANS A flock of 17, flying south, probably Trumpeters We had a few birds that cooperated - a PURPLE FINCH that landed right above our heads, a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET at about 10 feet, and a BROWN CREEPER that worked the bottom 5 feet of the same tree for several minutes. For the day, a surprisingly high count of 56 species. == Michael |
|
|
|
|
 Male Spotted Towhee at the Compost Piles |
 Female Spotted Towhee at the Compost Piles. Photo by Emmanuel Miranda-Steiner. |
 Rock Pigeons |
 I realized I had no photos of Rock Pigeons |
 Male Green-winged Teal with Mallard female in the rain at the Rowing Club |
 Two of three male Ring-necked Ducks in the rain at the Rowing Club |
Prev |
Bird Sightings Week 50
|
Next |