Hey tweets, A couple of people have asked for directions to the Montlake
Fill, so here goes:

Coming off I-5, take the NE 45th exit and head east. Go through the
University District and plunge down the NE 45th Street ramp. You'll pass
University Village (a shopping mall) on your left, and the university's
golf driving range on the right. Get in the right-hand lane as you come off
the ramp and keep heading east to the first light. That street should be
Mary Gates Blvd. Turn right and go south till you come to the Urban
Horticulture Center, which is at the end of the street, just before the
street curves off to the left. Before you get to the Urban Hort you'll pass
a road off to the right that leads to the golf range. Sometimes I go down
this road and take a left at the first gravel road. This leads to a big
parking lot where you can park for a small fee. This parking lot is the
western boundary of the Fill. It's a good place to look for warblers,
bitterns and grebes.

Usually, though, I keep going past that golf turnoff down to the Urban Hort
building. On the western side of the Urban Hort is a small parking lot. You
can park there for free if you're visiting the Fill. After you park, you
should walk west on the paved footpath leading from the parking lot. This
is Wahkiakum Lane. You'll know it by the large, multi-faceted wooden sign
explaining about the Fill, which the university (who owns the property)
would like to call the Union Bay Nature Reserve or some such. Take the
first path that goes off to the left of Wahkiakum Lane and walk past the
first main pond (Shoveler Pond) down to the second main pond (we creatively
call this one the Main Pond) and Lake Washington. I saw the black tern
foraging along the cattails just to the south of the Main Pond. It was
swooping and skimming the water, kind of like a waterborne nighthawk. It
also flew into the bay to the east of the cattails, but it didn't stay
there for long.

FYI, the cinnamon teals were on both Shoveler Pond and Main Pond. The
blue-winged teal and the redhead were on Main Pond. The yellow-headed
blackbird was in the willows on the east side of Main Pond, but I've seen
them forage in the low grass all along both ponds. Good luck. - Connie
Sidles, SEattle, e-mail: csidles at mail.isomedia.com