[Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2022-10-06

[Michael Hobbs]

Tweets - It was pretty quiet today under the fog.  Things picked up a bit,
later on, when a breeze started pushing the fog southbound.  Before that,
there was a lot of GRAY.  Almost all of the "summer" birds are gone, and
more and more of the "winter" birds are arriving.

Highlights:

   - American Wigeon - three from the Lake Platform.  First of Fall (*FOF*)
   - Ring-necked Duck - lone bird continues in slough.  Looks like a male
   still in eclipse
   - Wilson's Snipe - one heard pre-dawn (*FOF*)
   - TURKEY VULTURE - 30 heading south late in the morning!  See below
   - Northern Harrier - one also moving south above the 2nd group of
   vultures
   - Cooper's Hawk - several sightings, and two accipiter sp.
   - Red-breasted Sapsucker - one seen by Margaret towards the south end of
   the Dog Area, along the slough
   - Ruby-crowned Kinglet - at least three (*FOF*)
   - Pacific Wren - one heard calling south of the East Meadow (*FOF*)
   - American Pipit - some heard pre-dawn over the Viewing Mound

There were only 3 of us left, walking around the mansion area after the
main part of the survey, when we spotted 25 TURKEY VULTURES above the
windmill cruising south.  A few minutes later we noted 5 more, with the
NORTHERN HARRIER above them.  On 2017-09-17 we had 21 vultures in a kettle,
and on 2006-10-04 we had 23 split between two kettles.  So this is the
prime time for southbound migration of vultures over the park, but today we
had a new high count.  (Today and those other two days are the only times
we've had double-digit numbers of vultures).

Quite a few "summer" birds, many seen as recently as last week, were not
seen today.  These include Band-tailed Pigeon, Osprey, swallows, Swainson's
Thrush, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Common Yellowthroat.  All of these
absences are to be expected by this date.

Unexpected Misses today included American Coot, Ring-billed Gull, Green
Heron, Lincoln's Sparrow, and Western Meadowlark.

Please, send rain!

For the day, 54 species.

= Michael Hobbs
= www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
= BirdMarymoor at gmail.com
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