hello tweets.

despite my sadness over last night's killdeer-chick-ca-bobs,
and my intense desire to stay away from the fill until the
memory of that event had faded somewhat, scott's
<sdownes at u.washington.edu> message brought me back to the fill
this night for a quick look at the least sandpipers and the
lesser yellowlegs.

i could not find the lesser yellowlegs anywhere, but i did
find at least one, and perhaps as many as three, greater
yellowlegs. the crows were so merciless about chasing any and
all birds that i couldn't be sure if i was looking at the same
bird multiple times or three different birds.

i did find several flocks of shorebirds on several different
ponds, too. the largest flock, numbering 34 birds, was mainly
composed of western sandpipers, but i am certain that there
were several least sandpipers traveling with them. the birds
that i thought were least sandpipers were obviously smaller
and darker than the larger and "warmer" colored westerns, and
the leasts had a clean white breast, lacking the "v-shaped"
dots that decorate the western sandpiper's upper breast and
sides. this flock was extremely skittish and would not allow
me to sneak up closer to them for a better look. when this
flock took to the air, which was often, they would fly in
tight circles together over the pond, twisting and turning
as though they had one mind. then they would fly out over
the lake, and a smaller group of five birds would suddenly
peel away from the larger group and fly in a different
direction. they later would rejoin on the shores of one pond
or another in the fill.

later, i found another smaller flock of peeps on another
pond, near the urban horticulture entrance to the fill. this
flock, numbering eight individuals, was composed of seven
least sandpipers and one western sandpiper. they were much
calmer and allowed me to get very close. i then did my tree
imitation, and convinced these birds to wander even closer
to me, until i could barely focus my binoculars upon them
(my binos' closest focus is ten feet). i could clearly see
the yellow legs on the seven least sandpipers and the black
legs on the single western sandpiper.

i could hear the incessant calls of a sora while i was looking
at shorebirds, so i decided to sneak up on this bird for a
quick peek. as i did so, a furious canada goose tried to attack
me when my back was turned. i might have been acting almost on
instinct, because i do remember hearing the rhythmic buzz-buzz-buzz
of air passing between the bird's primaries, then turning around
to come nose-to-beak with an open-mouthed canada goose. despite
the fact that my left hand is a poor substitute for my still-
useless right hand, my left hand somehow managed to quickly
bring my backpack off my shoulder, swing it around and into mr.
goose's face. the goose bounced to the ground, hissing and (i'm
sure) swearing at me. we both looked at each other sheepishly
for a minute before i gave up my sora search for the night.

regards,

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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