Subject: Fill footage
Date: Oct 5 21:25:22 2002
From: Constance J. Sidles - csidles at mail.isomedia.com
Hey tweets, John and I made it down to the Fill this afternoon and
encountered quite a sight: a large flock of homofanus huskeyei were
streaming east (!). Many were in full breeding plumage - that intense
purple is an unmistakable field mark. I must say, the bird books do not do
it justice. Among the males were numerous females and even a few juveniles.
I know you know how rare it is to see juvy fanus in migration. At one
point, a small flock of males engaged in feeding behavior, not 30 feet away
from us. It was awesome. Does anyone know if this is a state record? I wish
I could have had a few birders with us to take photographs, but I fear the
flock has flown. You had to be there at the right time - 30 minutes later,
there was no sign of the flock at all.
After that spot, anything else was anticlimatic. But we did see:
three northern pintail on the the main pond, along with 40 plus green teals;
a huge flock of yellow-rumped warblers, in every available bush;
three ruddy ducks on Union Bay;
and:
a canvasback flew in as we were watching. - Connie, Seattle
csidls at isomedia.com