hello tweets.

today, i went birding at the montlake fill, as usual. the weather
was (once again) cloudy and warm, which makes one get a little
sweaty just from stumbling around through the blackberries. i am
hoping that the elusive and lovely seattle summer hasn't come and
gone, already!

perhaps my biggest disappointment today was the lack of vaux's
swifts. i also was birding the fill yesterday, and didn't see
any swifts, so two days in a row ... ? could these little speed
demons have already gone south?

i was surprised to see a comparatively large number of gulls and
gull species flying around union bay today. there were dozens of
ring-billed and several california gulls, along with the more
common glaucous-winged gulls. i also saw at least 4 caspian terns.
at one point, i was able to look at a ring-billed (RBGU) and
glaucous-winged gull (GWGU) and caspian tern (CATE) as they flew
within a few feet of each other at the same time. it was fun to
compare the large pale, heavy-winged GWGU to the dainty RBGU with
coal-black wingtips and the almost anorexic-looking CATE.

i re-located a family of coots that i have been watching during
the past few weeks. today, the four chicks were screaming so loudly
that i expected every predator in the neighborhood to be sneaking
through the nearby brush looking for an easy meal. the male coot
was busily collecting dried reeds from the marshy shore and then
running frantically on the water to deliver them to his mate. the
female would then patiently arrange and re-arrange the yellow stalks
on a floating platform located in a clump of blooming water lilies.
one half-grown youngster stood on the platform and in the middle of
the proceedings, as if she was supervising. it appears that they are
preparing to nest again. i guess that four chickies are not enough.

a group of four flickers was sitting in the beaver trees for
quite awhile. i think this group is the same family of flickers
that bob vandenbosch and i have been watching over the last few
months, because two of the flickers appeared to be quite young.
an english sparrow repeatedly flew at one of the young flickers,
pecking at the woodpecker's feet. finally, the young flicker
opened its beak threateningly, which seemed to discourage the
sparrow's repeated attacks.

once more, i stopped to pull purple loosestrife. there are several
wonderful people who are enlarging some areas that i have been
clearing, so today, i spent some time enlarging one of the purple-
free-zones that they created. as i started to pull, a male pheasant
exploded from the earth in front of me, shouting "BOK BOK!" and
nearly giving me a heart attack. it didn't take long for me to work
up a "healthy glow" in the muggy weather. finally, i stopped my
weeding for a moment to wipe the sweat from my eyes and caught sight
of an inquisitive young mallard that stood less than five feet away
from me, watching intently. as soon as i stopped, the duck plopped
herself into the green water of the central pond and paddled a short
distance away.

other notable birds included the shorebirds, least and western
sandpipers and long-billed dowitchers. i also spent some time
watching a very cute family of white-crowned sparrows as they
foraged through the freshly-mown grasses, the parents frequently
raised their flashy black-and-white head feathers while they
answered the peeped inquiries of their offspring, occasionally
showing the young a particularly desirable morsel.

i was at the fill from 1045am-1215pm and saw 44 species of birds.
my lists follow for those who are interested;

pied-billed grebe
great blue heron
mute swan, 1
canada goose
mallard
gadwall
bufflehead, 1 female
bald eagle, 1 immature
ring-necked pheasant, 3 male
american coot
killdeer
western sandpiper, 6+
least sandpiper, 2+
long-billed dowitcher, 2
ring-billed gull
california gull
glaucous-winged gull
glaucous-winged x western gull hybrid
caspian tern
rock dove
northern (red-shafted) flicker, 6+
downy woodpecker
willow flycatcher
american crow
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
bewick's wren
marsh wren
american robin
european starling
cedar waxwing
common yellowthroat
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
house finch
american goldfinch
house (english) sparrow

non-avian list;

muskrat, 1
turtles, lots
frogs, green
dragonfly, 1 blue
ladybugs, lots
bumblebees, lots
honeybees, hrm ... a few
wasp, several species

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