Subject: early fall
Date: Aug 21 07:45:02 2000
From: Constance J. Sidles - csidles at mail.isomedia.com


Hey tweets, Phil Kelley asked if anyone else noticed an early fall
migration this year. While I don't keep as accurate records as he, I got
the feeling that migration has been early this year, at least at the Fill.
The shorebird migration began to get heavy about a week or even two earlier
than usual. The swallows seem to have departed more thoroughly and earlier
than in other years. The Fill is more deserted in the evenings now than I
have ever remembered.

I wonder what effect the open-water around the North Pole is having on
birds? Are temperatures warmer in the Arctic and tundra, and if so, would
that encourage a different migratory pattern? I'm getting an overall,
indefinite sense that things are pretty goofy this year, but maybe that's
just me.

On another note, the osprey was back at the Fill last night. It perched in
the beaver tree until barn swallows and crows pestered it into leaving.
Then it swooped over my head and flew north toward Green Lake. Along the
way, it somehow found a thermal and circled high against the pink and gold
clouds of sunset. What a glorious sight. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at mail.isomedia. com