Friends of Marymoor Park

Bird Sightings Week 53
December 31 (December 30-31 in leap years)

Rarities for Week 53:

Eurasian Wigeon	31-Dec-22	John Puschock
Snowy Owl	31-Dec-12	High flyover, harassed by a raven
Bobcat	31-Dec-10	Marc Hoffman and others

Report for December 31, 2018 Birding at Marymoor

Like last year's New Years Eve day, I didn't get down early, and by the time I got there, I was amongst a hoard of dogs. The weather was good, though, and I had a fine day to end 2018.

Highlights:

Ring-necked Pheasant - male in Pea Patch again; New for Week 53
Horned Grebe - one out on lake amongst a flotilla of Pied-billed Grebe
Virginia Rail - responded from boardwalk
Sharp-shinned Hawk - near Pea Patch
Hairy Woodpecker - 9th straight week!
Pileated Woodpecker - almost as frequently found this winter as Hairy
Northern Shrike - one near Viewing Mound

For the (short) day, 46 species.

= Michael

Report for December 31, 2017 Birding at Marymoor

Week 53 is the blip on the end of the year - just a single day unless it's a leap year. I went down on the 31st mid-morning, amongst a hoard of dogs, trying to document poor Week 53. No photos, and nothing dramatic to be seen, but a couple of highlights:

Greater White-fronted Goose - TWO this time, with Cacklers and Canadas
American Wigeon - a couple below the weir - first since October
Lincoln's Sparrow - one from Viewing Mound

Report for December 30, 2016 Birding at Marymoor

Week 53 usually only has a single day in it (since 52*7=364), but 2016 being a leap year, both December 30 and December 31 fell into Week 53. Alas, even with double the hours, I couldn't find time to get down to Marymoor. Luckily, Grace & Ollie Oliver did make it down on the 30th, and it was a very nice day.
Green-winged Teal. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Juvenile Snow Goose with Canada Geese. Photo by Ollie Oliver
American Robin. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Adult Bald Eagle eating a fish. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Golden-crowned Sparrow. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Male Spotted Towhee. Photo by Ollie Oliver
"Sooty" Fox Sparrow. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Immature White-crowned Sparrow. Photo by Ollie Oliver

Report for December 31, 2015 Birding at Marymoor

It was frigid but gorgeous today – 23 degrees but crystal clear skies. Pre-dawn was glorious, with frost, a glow from the east, a SHORT-EARED OWL cruising the meadows, Venus, Jupiter next to the half-moon, and the sounds of geese on the lake. Highlights: Greater White-fronted Goose 1 in large flock of Cackling Geese American Wigeon A couple of flyover flocks, plus 2 birds in slough Bald Eagle Osprey-faced juvenile spooked geese often Cooper’s Hawk Juvenile in “Pet Cemetery” next to Pea Patch Short-eared Owl Very dark – almost called it Long-eared, 7:15 Red-breasted Sapsucker Two sightings Merlin Around 7:30 a.m. near East Kiosk Varied Thrush Grace had one near the windmill Spotted Towhee Maybe 20+ DARK-EYED JUNCO Huge flocks everywhere – more than 100 For the day, 53 species. For 2015, a very low count of 150 species. Nine more species are on eBird from other birders, which is closer to a typical year’s count. Happy New Year everyone! == Michael Hobbs	Canada Geese in slough below weir. Photo by Hugh Jennings
Red-breasted Sapsucker. Photo by Diana Antunes	Female Common Goldeneye. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Female Purple Finch. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Male House Finch. Photos by Ollie Oliver
Fox Sparrow. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Fox Sparrow. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Juvenile Bald Eagle. Photo by Ollie Oliver.	Juvenile Bald Eagle. Photo by Ollie Oliver.
Distant Western Meadowlark. Photo by Diana Antunes	European Starlings. Photo by Diana Antunes
Juvenile Bald Eagle. Photo by Bob Asanoma	Steller's Jay. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Green Heron, 2015-12-26. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Green Heron, 2015-12-26. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Cackling Geese, 2015-12-26. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Canada Geese, Cackling Geese, European Starling, 2015-12-26. Photo by Ollie Oliver

Report for December 31, 2014 Birding at Marymoor

Clear, cold but still. 59 species for the day. Beaver were very early. Coyote. Great Horned Owl at 0600. Birded 0600-1235 24F-42F clear
Six silent swans. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Golden-crowned Sparrows. Photo by Hugh Jennings
Canada Geese. Photo by Hugh Jennings	Fox Sparrow showing a lot of red in the early morning light. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Male American Goldfinch. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Male American Goldfinch. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Can you spot the Greater White-fronted Goose amongst the Cackling Geese? Photo by Ollie Oliver	How about now? Same photo by Ollie, only cropped.

Report for December 31, 2012 Birding at Marymoor

I went out solo today. I track the park’s birds by the week of the year. Poor Week 53 has only a single day each year, except for leap years when it has two days. So we don’t have very many surveys for Week 53, and I thought I’d try to add to Week 53’s totals (and I did – 9 additional species).

I wasn’t expecting it to be a great day, but the weather was about as perfect as you can get at this time of year – thin overcast, no wind, temps in the 30’s, no hint of precipitation. And it was super birdy.

Just as I was heading south from the Dog Area, I heard a Common Raven calling from above. At first I thought the raven must be perched atop one of the tall cottonwoods, but finally I saw it flying very high above the trees. Actually, I thought there were two ravens, but when I got a look at them with my binocs, I could see that one of them wasn't a raven - It was a SNOWY OWL. The owl was slowly cruising southwest, quite high up. I don't know how long the raven had been flying with it, harassing it all the time, but it may well have been for miles. Ravens are much more common in the Snoqualmie Valley than the Sammamish Valley. Soon after passing over the river, the raven broke off its pursuit and headed back to the east.

This is the first known report of SNOWY OWL for Marymoor Park! It brings the Park list to 222, and it was a species that I was skeptical whether we’d ever get. Snowys around here seem to prefer being closer to Puget Sound.

Other highlights:

Greater White-fronted Goose            At least 3 with Cacklers
Cackling Goose                                200+ on grass fields
CALIFORNIA QUAIL                    Male at Compost Piles – 1st for 2012!
Horned Grebe                                  A couple well out on lake
Western Grebe                                 At least 7 well out on lake
Virginia Rail                                      At least 3 heard east of East Meadow
SHORT-EARED OWL                   Nice looks at model airplane field, 7:30 a.m.
Red-breasted Sapsucker                  Near mansion
Hairy Woodpecker                          Four sightings
Pileated Woodpecker                      Female in Big Cottonwood Forest
Northern Shrike                               East Meadow
Common Raven                               Harassing Snowy Owl
Dark-eyed Junco                             Notably plentiful - 60+
Red Crossbill                                   20+ near mansion
American Goldfinch                         Six, just south of dog area

I also had a COYOTE west of the weir, and two RIVER OTTERS on the lake.

For the day, 60 species!

== Michael Hobbs

Common Raven harassing a SNOWY OWL as it flew west over the park.
More (worse) photos below
Rather nice sunrise

Very good-looking Coyote on west side of the slough, just downstream of the weir

Could someone please count the Pine Siskins for me?

Male Ring-necked Duck just above the weir

One of at least 5 Red-tailed Hawks

Another shot of the Snowy Owl shows how it compares in size with the raven

Here, the raven dive-bombs the flapping Snowy Owl

Female Pileated Woodpecker near the start of the boardwalk

Horrible photo, but it documents the male California Quail, our first since June, 2010

Once you finish counting the Pine Siskins (above), could you please count the Cackling Geese? This was just one of the flocks in the park.

The Cascades were stunning today

Partially leucistic American Robin - a "bad hair day" for life

Report for December 31, 2009

Michael is still in Prague so he missed out on the last Marymoor walk of the year. Today started out mostly cloudy and chilly, but with no wind. It gradually clouded over completely, but with structure to the clouds and the Cascades visible on the horizon. Eventually the cloud cover became a solid gray stratus and we waited for the rain. The rain, predicted to start at 10 AM held off and didn’t start until close to noon. The species diversity was good, although the absolute numbers of birds seemed to be down. There were a few birds singing including Bewick's and Marsh Wrens and Red-winged Blackbirds, and several other species were giving abbreviated versions of songs. We didn't see anything spectacular but did have nice sightings of: Barn Owls Trumpeter Swans Common Merganser Green Heron Sharp-shinned Hawk Northern Harrier hear 3 Virginia Rails and get nice looks at the Northern Shrike. 55 species All in all, it was a good day for the last day of December. Brian H. Bell	Male Common Merganser. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Common Goldeneye pair near the weir. Photo by Hugh Jennings	Ollie's shot of the same
Bufflehead at the lake, with at least two Common Goldeneye. Photo by Lillian Reis	Four female Common Goldeneye, with Bufflehead. Photo by Lillian Reis
Adult Cooper's Hawk. Photo by Ollie Oliver	Chestnut-backed Chickadee. Photo by Ollie Oliver
	Definitely not at Marymoor... As Brian mentioned, we've been in Prague, Czech Republic. The winter birding here is very slow - I've seen fewer species in two weeks than the Marymoor crew had in 5 hours on Thursday. But there are some rather nice birds amongst them, including this Blue Tit, Parus caeruleus. I haven't managed any other photos, really, as I only have my wife's snapshot camera, but I have seen Green Woodpecker, Hawfinch, Gray Wagtail, Bullfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and more. Happy New Year to all. = Michael