Hi,

This morning I birded the Montlake Fill from sunrise
(I got there at about 6:30) until 7:30. There was a
good variety of birds around the main pond, including
5 species of shorebirds, and three species of zono
sparrows. Along the slough toward the UW campus,
there was a nice flock of migrants. Birds seen in
taxonomical order (numbers and asterisks correspond to
notes at the bottom):

1. Pied-billed grebe
2. Double-crested Cormorant
3. Great Blue Heron
4. Green Heron
5. Canada Goose
6. Wood Duck
7. Green-winged Teal
8. Mallard
9. Northern Shoveler
10. Gadwall
11. Ruddy Duck
12. Osprey
13. Cooper's Hawk *1
14. Ring-necked Pheasant
15. American Coot
16. Killdeer
17. Wesetern Sandpiper *2
18. Least Sandpiper
19. Baird's Sandpiper *3
20. Common Snipe *4
21. Glaucous-winged Gull
22. California Gull
23. Rock Dove
24. Vaux's Swift
25. Anna's Hummingbird *5
26. Belted Kingfisher
27. Downy Woodpecker
28. Barn Swallow
29. Steller's Jay
30. American Crow
31. Black-capped Chickadee
32. Bushtit
33. Bewick's Wren
34. Marsh Wren
35. American Robin
36. European Starling
37. Warbling Vireo
38. Orange-crowned Warbler
39. Yellow Warbler
40. Townsend's Warbler
41. Common Yellowthroat
42. Savannah Sparrow
43. Lincoln's Sparrow
44. White-throated Sparrow 6*
45. Golden-crowned Sparrow
46. White-crowned Sparrow
47. Red-winged Blackbird
48. House Finch
49. American Goldfinch
50. House Sparrow

*1 Seen breifly near the pond where the Palm Warbler
stayed last winter on the west side of the fill.

*2 Flew off with the Baird's Sandpipers at about 7:10.
It had the largest bill I have ever seen on a Western
Sandpiper.

*3 Presumably the same two Baird's Sandpipers which
Connie Sidles reported to tweeters yesterday. They
flew off with the Western Sandpiper at about 7:10

*4 Roosting at the main pond. They flew off just as
it was getting light out. I recognized their
silouettes because there wasn't enough light to see
anything else. They flew off at about 6:35, calling
loudly.

*5 At the gardens at CUH

*6 An intriguing sighting. It was in the willow at
the south edge of the main pond. I have never seen a
White-throated Sparrow in WA before the end of October
until now. Not only does this bird strike me as quite
early, but it also caught my attention by singing its
full breeding song twice. Then it switched over to
its abbreviated song which is often heard in the fall
(well, atleast I heard it a lot when I lived in St.
Louis. I don't think I have heard it that many times
since I have moved here).


Michael Dossett
Bothell, WA
phainopepla at yahoo.com

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