Marymoor Bird Blog

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Recent Bird Sightings

Report for December 26, 2025 Birding at Marymoor

During predawn and for the first 1.5 hours of the survey, the weather was rather pleasant. We even had some sun. Quite birdy too. After that, we had little bits of precipitation with gray clouds, and increasing wind. Still not terrible, especially for December; with temps either side of 40 degrees this morning. Floodwaters are receding, but the south end of the Dog Area and the boardwalk are still closed. Highlights: Seven species of ducks in the slough below the weir Anna's Hummingbird - gorgeous male south of the East Meadow; our first Anna's in five weeks (there is no longer a feeder at the park office) Barred Owl - Tony had one pre-dawn in the south end of the park Merlin - One along "snag row" just east of the Pea Patch Bewick's Wren - Many singing Coyote - One in the East Meadow We had some definite CACKLING GEESE today, but again no positive ID of Canadas. Several distant flyby flocks of both geese and ducks. Misses today included Canada Goose, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, American Coot, Ring-billed Gull (the morning gull flock stayed far away from us), Cooper's Hawk, Steller's Jay, Brown Creeper, and Pine Siskin. For the day, 45 species. = Michael Hobbs
Heron Fight	Photos by Tony Ernst
I believe an adult attacked a juvenile, based on neck color, etc.	Both seem unscathed at the end
Merlin high up atop a cottonwood near the Pea Patch. Photo by Tony Ernst.	Adult Red-tailed Hawk with a furry prey Photo by Tony Ernst.

Report for December 18, 2025 Birding at Marymoor

Marymoor is partially flooded, and we could not get to the southern end at all. Add to that on-and-off precipitation, dark overcast, occasional winds, and it made for a fairly birdless walk this morning. At least it wasn't too cold, with temps right around 45 degrees.

Highlights:

Brown Creeper - Faint but complete song at the Rowing Club
Pacific Wren - One spontaneously burst into loud song just when we got to the slough
Northern Shrike - We had to venture way out to the Model Airplane Field, but we finally managed recognizable views. First sighting in 6 weeks
Western Meadowlark - At least 18 near the NE ball fields
Coyote - One, when we were looking at the shrike
The Rowing Club - Birdiest part of the walk, with six new species for the day, including our only finches. Some good looks at actual birds too

Lowlights:

ZERO GEESE - not even distant flyovers noted!!!
Only about 10 dabbling ducks: MALLARDS plus a pair each of GADWALL and AMERICAN WIGEON

Misses included Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Green-winged Teal, Anna's Hummingbird, American Coot, Steller's Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh Wren, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, and White-crowned Sparrow.

The five of us managed 45 hard-won species by the end.

Happy Solstice everyone. Let's hope we can all dry out.

= Michael Hobbs

Great Blue Heron at the Rowing Club dock

Report for December 11, 2025 Birding at Marymoor

Yesterday, it was just me and Matt Bartels. Everyone else had better things to do than walk around in the rain. (To be fair, many of them really *did* have better things to do). As it turned out, though, yesterday wasn't too bad. It did rain for much of the morning, but it was worst before dawn and in tapered off completely before 10 a.m. Brighter than last week, and a bit birdier too. Flooding was not as bad as we anticipated; the rain hasn't been that hard in Redmond, and the fields were not really flooded at all. Lake levels were up, but the boardwalk was only under a few inches of water.

Highlights:

Barred Owl - Matt had one next to the boardwalk pre-dawn, our first Barred for November/December ever
MERLIN - Taiga-type bird landed near the concert venue
Purple Finch - Some really good, close looks while we were at the Rowing Club
White-throated Sparrow - Two underneath the heronry
Western Meadowlark - At least fourteen near the entrance to Lot G

Misses were notable yesterday, especially among geese and ducks, though part of the problem was our inability to identify silent fly-over flocks.

Misses yesterday included: Canada Goose !!! (though we had several flying flocks that were probably Canada and not Cackling, and one flock of 6 birds that were possibly Greater White-fronted Goose), Gadwall, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal (though a flyby flock of ~30 was almost surely this species), Ring-necked Duck, Anna's Hummingbird, American Coot, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, Downy Woodpecker (though we may have heard one), Northern Shrike, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskin, and Lincoln's Sparrow. I figure the waterfowl have so many other choices of wet areas right now that they don't need to hang out with the Bald Eagles at Marymoor.

Despite that extensive list of misses, we had 47 species we were able to identify yesterday. Not bad, given the circumstances.

= Michael Hobbs

Report for December 4, 2025 Birding at Marymoor

Perhaps we should have started at 8:00 a.m. instead of 7:30. With sunrise not until 7:38, and with overcast skies, it was quite a while before the birds were awake and visible. It never did get birdy, though it did get nearly sunny before the end of the walk. Windless and warm, with no precipitation, but quiet except for the robins and crows.

Highlights:

Short-billed Gull - One or maybe a few among the dawn gulls on the grass fields. First of Fall (FOF)
Northern Shrike - "Other Matt" photographed one at the south end of the East Meadow, the rest of us missed it
American Robin - Super-ubiquitous. 20+ seen every time we looked anywhere
Western Meadowlark - 19, or maybe 20, on the grass/gravel parking area north of the Viewing Mound

And that's about it for highlights, except for two COYOTES across the slough below the weir.

Misses today included Hooded Merganser, California Gull (though there may well have been some in the gulls while it was still too dark to really see), Pine Siskin, Lincoln's Sparrow, and Yellow-rumped Warbler (!).

We did manage 54 species today, but at least 9 of those were heard-only, and about 15 were represented by only 1 or 2 individuals.

= Michael Hobbs

Report for November 26, 2025 Birding at Marymoor

Another day with better weather than we have a right to expect at this time of the year. Temps in the high 40's with no wind or rain. It was a rather dark overcast, though, which made viewing a bit difficult. It was alternatingly birdy and quiet, except for the robins. There were just about always robins. Possibly even too many robins.

Highlights:

Common Merganser - Just one high flyby, at 7:30. But first COME since early October
Cooper's Hawk - Adult at Pea Patch stirred up a cloud of juncos
Barn Owl - Two sightings pre-dawn (6:27 and 6:39 a.m.) from the model airplane field parking lot
Hairy Woodpecker - One next to the dog swim beach at Dog Central gave great looks!
Merlin -Quick flyby from the east end of the boardwalk
Cedar Waxwing - One, with robins. Sightings of Cedars are sparse from late November to early May
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW - Three seen simultaneously under the NW corner of the heronry. One had been seen moving away from that area a minute before, which might make four birds
"EASTERN" Song Sparrow - Near the sheds on the east side of the East Meadow, where one was seen January through March this spring.
American beaver - Three swimming around in the slough south of the Dog Area

Misses today included Cackling Goose, Common Goldeneye, Anna's Hummingbird, Killdeer, Pine Siskin, and American Goldfinch.

For the day, 53 species.

= Michael Hobbs

"Eastern" subspecies Song Sparrow. Photo by Jordan Roderick

Cooper's Hawk viewing the Pea Patch. Photo by Michael Hobbs

Report for November 20, 2025 Birding at Marymoor

The night's rain ended around 6:30 a.m., and the weather was somewhere between really nice and delightful the rest of the morning. Temps averaged about 50 degrees, no wind :) It was birdy too, making for a wonderful fall survey.

Highlights:

Greater White-fronted Goose - Six below the weir
Trumpeter Swan - Three flew south, calling, heading over the Viewing Mound. First of Fall (FOF)
Green-winged Teal - Two drakes at the Rowing Club were our first since mid-October
Scaup sp. - Several seen briefly from the Lake Platform. Jordan thought Lesser based on his photos
Short-billed Gull - Only mentioning because there were so many today
Horned Grebe - One or two visible from Lake Platform
Common Loon - A late scan of the lake turned up one. Right when we got to the slough, though, we may also have heard one. (FOF)
Double-crested Cormorant - Flock after flock flying towards the lake. 40+
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Seen twice, caused consternation amongst a variety of birds
Barn Owl - I saw one just after 6:30 at the model airplane field
American Robin - Utterly ubiquitous. Impossible to count, but over 100, and probably over 200
Cedar Waxwing - Three near the Dog Area portapotties
Western Meadowlark - Three or more, with one singing
BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD - Male near the Dog Area portapotties. Only our 2nd ever for November, and only our 5th ever for Oct-Feb.

We had no White-throated Sparrows, despite having had 3-4 last week (which I forgot to mention in my Tweeters post - we had three at the same moment near the Dog Area portapotties with another sighting 100 yards+ further north).

Misses today included Common Merganser, American Coot, Killdeer, Cooper's Hawk, Pine Siskin, and Lincoln's Sparrow.

For the day, 60 species.

= Michael Hobbs

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