Hey tweets, Down at the Fill yesterday, things were really popping, even at
1 p.m. in the afternoon. The highlight was a little flock of nine redheads
on the main pond. What a sight. There were four pairs and an odd male
(well, he wasn't odd; he was odd duck out). I know people have seen
redheads at the Fill before, but I never have, not in 15 years of birding
there.

Also of note: two male ring-necked pheasants fighting like professional
fighting cocks. I noticed them because of a wild thrashing in the grass
near the ring of cottonwoods near the east entrance of Wahkiakum Trail. At
first I thought it was a frisky raccoon, but then I saw two whirling forms
burst out of the grass into the air, slash wildly at each other with their
feet, and then fall back down to earth. Then they raised their heads
against each other in turn, beak to beak, kind of like Lyndon Johnson
talking to Hubert Humphrey (I'm reading Caro's new biography). They were
going to have at it some more when one of them noticed me watching. What a
dilemma: flight or fight? Finally, with magnificent nonchalence, they each
sauntered off in different directions. You could see that each one thought
of himself as the victor.

I also saw a common yellowthroat near the Wicca Tree and one lone
yellow-rumped warbler in the cottonwoods. The common mergansers were still
around in the bay, and many baby geese have hatched, though not as many as
in previous years. The crows and red-winged blackbirds have both turned
aggressive, which is amusing when they take out their aggression on each
other. In one case, a blackbird was after a crow and dive-bombed him from
the top. Every time the blackbird dived, the crow reached up his head to
peck back; at the same time, he would lower his landing gear. As the two of
them flew off toward QFC, it was dive, peck, lower the landing gear; dive,
peck, lower the landing gear. Very funny. I like crows all right, but I
must admit to a certain sense of satisfaction that one was getting his
come-uppance for a change. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at mail.isomedia.com