Hey tweets, With thunderstorms threatening, deadlines looming, family
mewling, car needs washing, clothes need mending, house needs cleaning, what
is one to do? Obviously, there is only one answer to this question: go to
the Fill.

I escaped there this morning at 7:45 and found everything a person could
want, including peace of mind. Well, I take that back. The Fill lacked house
elves to do all the chores I'd run away from and that awaited me back home.
But as Scarlett O'Hara would say, "I'll think about that tomorrow."

In the meantime, the Fill was really hopping. A little flock of swallows and
swifts was vacuuming up bugs all over the firmament. I saw violet-greens,
trees, cliffs, barns and Vaux's swifts (which may be roosting in the St.
Stephens chimney by now - I'll try and check). Numbers were small (except
for the swifts), which means that these swallows are migrants stopping
briefly on their way south. Soon they'll all be gone and another winter will
be upon us. Already several trees around the CUH building are turning orange
or yellow. I can hardly wait.

The house finches are back in force, which is a pain in a way because
they're simply everywhere and you have to look at every one in case there's
a rare sparrow or warbler among them. Mind you, I'm not complaining; I
really missed the house finches when their numbers crashed on account of the
eye virus a couple of years ago.

The main pond is shrinking to its normal summer size at last, freeing up
more mud and forcing the fish into ever smaller areas. This attracts
shorebirds, ducks, herons and grebes, which is great for us birders but hard
luck for the fish. Last night, a cruising peregrine falcon came through the
area, looking for weak or clueless shorebirds, no doubt. This morning there
was no falcon but there was a lone spotted sandpiper, already in winter
plumage almost entirely. Also still at the main pond were the cinnamon teal
youngsters and the common yellowthroat who hatched there this year. In the
same vein, the wood duck family was out on Union Bay this morning, too. It
is such a pleasure seeing bird generations succeed one another at the Fill.
It gives me all the pleasures of being a grandparent without any of the fuss
(though I have a feeling, with three 20s-somethings at my house, that my
time for real grandparenting is coming down the track like a freight train).

Here's a complete list of what I found:

pied-billed grebe
great blue heron
Canada goose
mallard
cinnamon teal
wood duck
American coot
killdeer
spotted sandpiper
glaucous-winged gull
California gull
ring-necked pheasant
rock dove
Vaux's swift
Anna's hummingird
belted kingfisher
downy woodpecker
northern flicker
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
American crow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
Bewick's wren
American robin
cedar waxwing
European starling
common yellowthroat
spotted towhee
song sparrow
savannah sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
brown-headed cowbird
red-winged blackbird
house sparrow
American goldfinch
house finch

- Connie Sidles, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com