Hey tweets, My elderly aunt often says, "The more you know about something,
the more interesting it becomes." I remembered her saying when I was touring
Ireland once, in the company of a high school history teacher. He knew the
stories behind every stone, I think, and he was most generous in sharing his
knowledge with me. It made the trip unforgettable and so much more
meaningful than driving around saying to yourself, "Hm. There's a ruined
castle over there. I wonder what happened to it."

I was reminded of these thoughts today at the Fill when I tried to walk past
15 killdeers stationed on the south end of the main pond. I wanted to get a
closer look at a small flock of five least sandpipers and one western
sandpiper, just in case one of the herd might turn into something really
rare. The killdeers started peeping their alarm call when I was still at the
far end of the pond. Although I took only one step every few minutes,
freezing into a statue after each step, those darn killdeer kept up their
peeping. When I got close enough to the sandpiper flock for a really good
look, the killdeers burst into the sky crying and calling, spooking the
sandpipers to kingdom come. Cursing my luck and those noisy killdeers, who
have behaved exactly the same way every single day for the past week, I
walked on by and tried to find something else to look at. Eventually I ended
up back at my car and decided to drive over to the dime parking lot and have
a look at the warbler tree near the old wooden bridge. I'd already seen an
orange-crowned warbler and several common yellowthroats around the main
pond, so I thought maybe a rare warbler might be hanging out on the willow
tree near the old bridge. Well, I didn't find any warblers, but I did find
that same flock of 15 killdeers. They were squatting on the gravel of the
dime parking lot. I drove right past them and they never said a word. I got
out and walked all around the area, looking for warblers, and the killdeers
might have been mimes. I asked them directly who they thought they were and
why they were behaving so perversely, and they just stared silently at me
with their beady black eyes.

Now, I know why the killdeers were so noisy at the pond. I even halfway
respect their vigilance and the role they play as watchdogs for other
species. It's one reason I like killdeers, even when they spoil good looks
at rarer species. But I have no idea why the killdeers were so quiet in the
parking lot. Why couldn't they have been mum when it really counted?

I meditated on these matters and concluded that knowing a lot about birds
makes birding much more fun. But not knowing things about birds is just as
much fun. It means that there will always be more to learn, and thus,
birding will never become boring. Every day at the Fill will always be
different; I will know some answers and ask some unanswerable questions. I
will always have something new to look forward to. When I meet other
birders, they will always have something to teach me. My knees may get more
arthritic every year as I get older. But my spirit will always be young.
Aren't we lucky to be able to bird?

Here's a complete list of what I found this afternoon:

pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
Canada goose
mallard
northern shoveler
green-winged teal
cinnamon teal
least sandpiper
western sandpiper
killdeer
ring-billed gull
ring-necked pheasant
rock dove
Anna's hummingbird
belted kingfisher
northern flicker
willow flycatcher
barn swallow
Steller's jay
American crow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
Bewick's wren
American robin
European starling
orange-crowned warbler
common yellowthroat
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
house sparrow
American goldfinch

- Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com