Date: 3/13/25 5:21 pm From: Michael Hobbs via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2025-03-13
Tweets - Weather forecasts again were way worse than what we actually got. There was a little mizzle pre-dawn, and just a touch of mist occasionally during the actual survey. We even had sun and shadows a couple of times. Temps were in the 40's, though there was a breeze a lot of the time. The heavy rain apparently came through faster than expected.
The birds took their time getting going today. Jordan and Mason were just back from birding in Thailand (400+ species), so at least we had something to talk about. There wasn't too much of note today, and we had a very similar list of birds to last week's.
Highlights: Virginia Rail - Kiddick kiddick "songs" spontaneously from several individuals west of the slough California Gull - Several with a small flock of gulls on Fields 7-8-9, First of Year (FOY) Great Blue Heron - Over 100 at/on the nests today, with much nest building Five Woodpecker Day - Technically; both Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers were heard just enough to count Violet-green Swallows - At the end of the main loop of the survey, around 25 VGSW were low over the slough just south of the weir Red-winged Blackbird - 12-15 birds, including a female or two; much higher than previous weeks
Fairly early on, we had a very high-flying flock of white-bellied swallows, so it was great that we had the later sighting of both VIOLET-GREEN and TREE SWALLOWS down close and personal. Violet-greens outnumbered Trees by about 5-1.
Despite two reports of Rufous Hummingbird already this year at Marymoor, we are still waiting for our first. They should definitely be back in numbers in the next week or two. Also possible in the next couple of weeks are Turkey Vulture, Say's Phoebe, and Mountain Bluebird. And then, the first week in April should feature quite a few additional First of Year birds.
Misses today included Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, and Northern Shrike.
For the day, 56 species. Adding California Gull, the survey 2025 list is at 78 species.
= Michael Hobbs = <BirdMarymoor...> = www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
