Subject: Fill fun
Date: Nov 11 04:41:28 2002
From: Constance J. Sidles - csidles at mail.isomedia.com


Hey tweets, Yesterday at the Fill was fun, as usual. A big crew* regatta
was going on, with a lot of shouting on the part of those little guys who
sit and yell in the front of each boat (senior momentitis has struck and I
can't remember what you call those guys, some of which are of course gals).
But the birds didn't seem to mind, except for the ducks. They left clear
paths for the racers and concentrated themselves in Union Bay. There were
large numbers of buffleheads, gadwalls, mallards, etc., and one ring-necked
duck. I didn't see the little flock of wood ducks that I know is still
there, but to compensate, I saw a flock of 27 shorebirds fly overhead. They
didn't call, so I'm not sure what they were. But there were plenty of them.
They've got to land somewhere, so I recommend that you go out to the Fill
and have a look. I did see three beautiful short-billed dowitchers on the
main pond, and maybe the larger flock were dowitchers, too.

Also of note: ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets, yellow-shafted and
red-shafted flickers, belted kingfisher (on the main pond, and grumpy),
northern pintail (one left on the main pond), and many spotted towhees (a
good year for them; individuals are now settled near the wedding rock, dead
beaver trees, and trees north of main pond, brush on west side of Shoveler
Pond).

On Saturday, Stuart MacKay mentioned that the UW was drilling holes in the
Fill. When Stuart said drilling, he meant oil-rig size. This is not a case
of a worker with a shovel turning over a few spadefuls of dirt. These are
seriously big machines. It looks to me like the UW is doing something about
the methane still present under the surface soil. I'll try to contact Fred
Hoyt this week and ask what's going on. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com

*I could just have correctly said a big crow regatta, because there were
hundreds of crows flying here and there all over the area. I kept thinking
they were chasing a raptor, but no, they were just holding meetings.