hello tweets,

this morning, i was at CUH once more. there was a ness crane there,
beginning the demolition process. already, two large construction-
site dumpsters -- larger than both of the first two studio apartments
that i lived -- were full to overflowing with rubble. the crane reached
down into the building from the roof like a giant hand, closing its
fingers around the sooty wreckage and lifting it amid low groans from
the building. merrill hall appears to be a total loss.

the bird life was woderful, perhaps because the clouds cut down on the
heat, perhaps because there are fewer dogs present at the fill during
the week than on weekends. the usual compliment of birds were singing
from every branch on each tree and bush. my most notable sightings
were the male cinnamon and blue-winged teal, feeding next to each other
along the shoreline of a shallow muddy pond. a flock of 18-20 cedar
waxwings darted overhead and goldfinches criss-crossed the fill in
cheery pairs. i heard virginia rails calling, but was unable to catch a
glimpse of them, and i saw lots of canada geese and their goslings.
several years ago, one of my little projects at the fill was to count
clutch sizes for canada geese, and i found the average clutch size
to be 8, with a range between 5-12. today, i counted hatchling canada
geese, with numbers as follows; 5, 6, 7, 10, 10, 12, 13, 13. the ages
of these fluffy guys ranges between (estimated) 5 days - 14 days old.
i also found one half-grown mallard and two younger mallards still
with their mother. they were following a male blue-winged teal as he
fed, while mom followed them around. i also spotted several female anna's
hummingbirds. sadly, i also caught a crow in the act of stealing a
robin chick. the chick had a large hole punched into the side of
its neck. the feather tracts were all erupting, so i am guessing that
this chick was perhaps a week from leaving the nest.

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.