hello tweets.

despite the cold, windy weather, i went birding at the montlake
fill this evening, niavely thinking that the sun would finally
break through and warm things up. well, the sun only peeked at
me several times between rainshowers, so i spent at least part
of my time hiding under trees, trying to stay warm and dry,
and wondering about my sanity.

but it was worth it. i saw 57 species in 2 hours, including
three teal species! in fact, one of the first birds that
i saw upon reaching the fill was a single male blue-winged
teal, feeding in the flooded area near the dime lot where
mama and papa mallard fought so valiantly a few weeks ago
to protect their ducklings from the resident gang of hoodlums,
er, crows. i later saw more blue-winged teal, and some
cinnamon teal, on the central pond and tucked away here and
there on the smaller ponds throughout the fill. while i was
at the central pond looking at ducks, common snipe flew
in large circles overhead several times, calling loudly in
their raspy voices.

the central pond also had 15 western sandpipers, which were
harassed mercilessly by crows, and one short-billed dowitcher
in breeding plumage. after some careful stalking, i managed to
get fairly close to the dowitcher. i saw that its sides were
spotted (not barred), and its upper breast was a warm rufous
color without any spots or barring. the lower abdomen and
undertail coverts were white with some darker markings.

i later saw a second short-billed dowitcher on a nearby pond,
feeding among last year's dead grasses in shallow water next
to a pair of common snipe. a non-tweeter birder, who completed
last year's master birder class, showed up and kindly allowed
me to look through his 60x nikon scope. after some discussion
regarding habitat type, he agreed with my identification for the
short-billed dowitcher. two greater yellowlegs in breeding
plumage flew in to the same pond while we watched and a common
yellowthroat -- another new arrival at the fill -- serenaded
us from a nearby cottonwood tree.

an adult bald eagle swooped over our heads to stir things up,
so i stopped counting the blue-winged and cinnamon teal after
this point since they scattered everywhere, making it impossible
to keep track of which birds i'd already seen and counted.
the bald eagle perched near the top of the beaver trees and
stared out over the fill for more than 30 minutes before
swooping down upon a canada goose bobbing near the lake shore,
narrowly missing and then soaring away.

other notable birds seen included the western meadowlark and
the caspian tern. i noticed that barn swallow numbers are still
increasing slowly. today, i saw at least 8 and probably
more individuals swooping over the lake and flying overhead.

finally, i checked on the killdeer nest that bon vandenbosch
and i had been watching for the past few weeks, and found
it was empty. i discovered two newly-hatched chicks running
around and feeding at the nearby "dry pond" while their
parents bomb-dived crows, yelling constantly. the entire area
was chaos.

i moved away and stood on wahkiakum lane, watching through my
binoculars. but my excitement did not last long. a crow
swooped down upon one chick and grabbed it, squashing its
delicate bones in its beak like a marshmallow as it flew over
my head. several crows pursued it, looking to steal the meal,
no doubt.

the last remaining chick was not long for this world, either.
the parents' dramatic broken-wing displays were no match for
the crows' intelligence and numbers (more than 20, by my
count). the mother's display was so convincing that i became
concerned that she had genuinely been injured by the several
crows that had been pursuing her. but in the end, nothing
could stop the gang of hoodlums, er, crows, from finally
grabbing and crushing the last of their offspring.

i suddenly realized that my fingers had gone numb and turned
as blue as the wing of a teal, and it was time to leave for
the night.

my bird list follows, for those of you who might be interested;

pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant, breeding-plumaged adults and immatures
great blue heron, breeding plumage
greater white-fronted geese, 2
canada goose
mallard
gadwall
american green-winged teal
american wigeon
northern shoveler
blue-winged teal, 1 pair and 3 "spare" males
cinnamon teal, 2 pair and at least 2 "spare" males
ruddy duck, all in breeding plumage
ring-necked duck
greater scaup
lesser scaup
bufflehead
american coot
killdeer
greater yellowlegs, 2 in breeding plumage
short-billed dowitcher, 2 in breeding plumage
common snipe, 2 or maybe more
western sandpiper, 18
western gull
glaucous-winged gull
"olympic gull" (western x glaucous-winged hybrid), 2
caspian tern, 1
bald eagle, 1 adult
california quail
ring-necked pheasant
rock dove
downy woodpecker
northern (red-shafted) flicker
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
barn swallow, at least 8
american crow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
bewick's wren
marsh wren
american robin
european starling
hutton's vireo
yellow-rumped (myrtle) warbler
yellow-rumped (audubon's) warbler
common yellowthroat
spotted towhee
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
western meadowlark, 1
red-winged blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
house (english) sparrow
american goldfinch
house finch

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
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