By the way, for the record-collectors, I forgot to mention that I took
photos of Sunday's Montlake Bobolink, and I also have photos of the one I
saw there in September quite a few years ago.

That central pond really looked good, Stuart et al., and it will be
exciting to see the differences it makes in bird use. Now someone has to
chop down a couple of those willow trees! It would be nice to "manage" the
entire southern half of the site for grassland and ponds, while leaving the
northern half to do what it will. It's obvious what it will do--the
blackberry thickets are growing closer together all the time, even
squeezing out the Scots broom. As I have been going out there for >20
years now, it dawned on me that I probably have a better perspective on it
than most of the people at Urban Horticulture. The changes are insidious,
in a way, as it doesn't look *that* different from year to year, but, boy,
does it look different from 20 years ago! There wasn't a tree or shrub
anywhere on the site when I first explored it, while now there are thickets
everywhere and surprisingly many little copses of woodland. Succession
succeeds again!

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416