hello tweeters.

the sunshine lured me out to the montlake fill to visit
my birdie buddies, finally, and i had a good time there.
i was pleased to re-locate a small group of golden-crowned
sparrows as they sporatically sang their melancholy songs
from the brush behind the urban horticulture center. i
had thought that all of the golden-crowned sparrows had
left the fill for the summer. the savannah sparrows and
the butterbutts have also become quite scarse during the
past week or so, or perhaps they have just become much
quieter. i have noticed that the song sparrows are very
quiet, unless i pish next to their nests, when both parents
pop out of the brush and into plain view, ruffling and
puffing their feathers in nervous annoyance at my intrusion.

i counted 46 peeps today before i allowed myself to become
distracted by several queen bumblebees. i estimate that
about half were western sandpipers and the other half were
least sandpipers. i also saw several american pipits
bobbing their tails energetically as they picked their way
through the mud. mama killdeer is still guarding her little
nest of three brown-speckled green eggs, even though she
was not actively incubating them while i was present. whenever
i strayed too near her nest, she peeped loudly at me and
puffed her feathers out, making herself appear large and
dangerous.

a single male blue-winged teal was on the central pond, and
another male blue-winged teal was on the so-called "dry pond"
along with a single male and two pair of cinnamon teal.

other notable birds include one (and perhaps two) belted
kingfisher, two common snipe, and a mallard hen with ten
newly-hatched ducklings on the dime lot pond.

it was a good day, overall, and i saw 54 species in two hours
of watching. i was there from 330-530pm. my bird list follows
for those who might be interested;

pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
mute swan, incubating (sigh)
canada goose, still three hens sitting on eggs!
mallard
gadwall
green-winged teal
american wigeon
northern shoveler
blue-winged teal, 2 males
cinnamon teal, 2 pair and one "spare" male
ruddy duck
ring-necked duck
greater scaup
lesser scaup
bufflehead
sora
american coot
killdeer
common snipe, 2
western sandpiper
least sandpiper
ring-billed gull, 1 adult flyover
glaucous-winged gull
california quail
ring-necked pheasant
rock dove
belted kingfisher, 2 sightings, possibly of the same bird
northern flicker
tree swallow, nesting
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
american crow
bushtit
black-capped chickadee
bewick's wren
marsh wren
american robin
american pipit
european starling
yellow-rumped (audubon's) warbler
yellow-rumped (myrtle) warbler
common yellowthroat
savannah sparrow, very few
song sparrow, mostly quiet now
white-crowned sparrow
golden-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
house (english) sparrow
american goldfinch, everywhere
house finch

non-avian list;

muskrat

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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