hello tweets.

when i went to the fill today, i noticed immediately that there
were many MANY dozens of newly-fledged starlings, and they were
everywhere. it is the most impressive spectacle that i have
seen since i was astonished (repeatedly) by the fantastic
nesting success of the canada geese. since i was at the fill
last night for quite some time, i expected that i might
re-locate some of the unusual species tonight, especially the
female wood duck and the mourning dove, but no such luck. i did,
however, have a good night and i saw some nice birds, too.

perhaps the best sighting of the evening was the male hooded
merganser that i snuck up on at the "corp yard pond," near
the E4 parking lot. he knew i was there and flared his hood
nervously at my approach. he was quite shy, but i managed to
find a secluded vantage point from where i could see him easily
as he tried to hide from me.

in other "duckie news," i found a surprising *eight* male
blue-winged teal on several ponds, along with a small number of
several other duck species, as well. i did find a pair of
mallard hovering over one teensy-tiny duckling that must have
just hatched today on the dime-lot pond. the female and that
one duckling swam together, always touching, as if they were
attached. the female was obviously very disturbed by my
presence, repeatedly bobbing her head sharply while holding her
mouth wide open. she appeared to want to fly away very badly,
but couldn't abandon her one duckling. i quickly left so she
would recover from her distress and conflict.

i saw two anna's hummingbirds chasing each other today, but
couldn't be sure if they were courting or fighting because
they moved so quickly out of my view. later, i sat and watched
a very noisy anna's hummingbird as it hawked insects from a
perch above my head. connie sidles mentioned that a a rufous
hummingbird had been seen today, but i couldn't find it despite
searching for it.

once again, the cedar waxwings were present, noisily calling
and flying around between trees. i saw four birds, but i am
certain that i was hearing more.

i was at the montlake fill tonight from 530-730pm, and saw 49
species of birds. my list follows for those who might be
interested;

pied-billed grebe
great blue heron
canada goose
mallard
gadwall
green-winged teal, 1 male
northern shoveler, 3 male
blue-winged teal, 8 male
cinnamon teal, 2 male 1 female
ring-necked duck, 1 male 1 female
greater scaup, 1 male
lesser scaup, 1 male 1 female
bufflehead, 2 female
hooded merganser, 1 male
ring-necked pheasant, 1 male 1 female (heard more)
california quail
american coot
killdeer
spotted sandpiper, 1 breeding plumage
westernxglaucous-winged ("olympic") gull
glaucous-winged gull
rock dove
bald eagle, 1 adult
anna's hummingbird, 2 (at least one male)
downy woodpecker
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, at least 4
yellow warbler
common yellowthroat
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
yellow-headed blackbird, 2 female
red-winged blackbird
brewer's blackbird, 1 male
brown-headed cowbird
house finch
american goldfinch
house (english) sparrow

non-avian list;
muskrat, 2
red-eared slider turtles
frogs?, 2

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/
<><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>