Hey tweets, this just in from the Fill. Yesterday I checked out the weed
situation around the south part of the main pond, and I don't really think
we need to pull loosestrife or weeds after all. I can hardly believe it,
after all these years of annual pulling. But The pond level has gone down
enough to make more mud, and the released weevils and beetles have kept the
loosestrife small or gone altogether.

My husband John and I will be out there on Saturday, August 4, anyway, from
8 a.m. to whenever. We may dig up a few weeds to create even more mud, or
we may set up some chairs and have a Big Sit, enjoying the shorebirds. By
all means come and help with either project, but please don't feel
obligated to come to work or guilty if you can't. I think we're in good
enough shape to have a great fall migration with very little effort, for a
change.

Who'd have thunk it? I thought I'd be pulling weeds clear up to the time I
entered purgatory, and then of course for eons afterwards too.

FYI, the Fill was quiet yesterday. I saw only a limping spotted sandpiper
on the main pond, and two long-billed dowitchers. This morning, John
reported there were a few more shorebirds, but I haven't gone yet to see
for myself.

There are three juvenile northern shovelers hanging about on the main pond
(they also go over to the secluded pond near the Dime Parking Lot). These
are the first juveniles I've ever seen at the Fill. The shovelers are a
riot: their bills are even more out of proportion to their bodies than
adults' bills are. The birds look almost self-conscious about it, looking
at me out of the corners of their eyes as if they wonder, do I notice their
big bills too much? - Connie, Seattle

csidles at mail.isomedia.com