Subject: Fall fell at the Fill today
Date: Jul 1 10:45:14 2003
From: Connie Sidles - csidles at isomedia.com


Hey tweets, It's fall at the Fill this morning - I strongly recommend that
you get down there this afternoon or early tomorrow morning to see the first
peeps of the fall migration: two SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, six LEAST SANDPIPERS,
three SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS and two WESTERN SANDPIPERS. When you go, be
sure to savor the little pockets of frigid air clinging to some of the
depressions in the pathways. They, and their wet boggy smell, are real signs
of autumn, along with the migrants.

I got to the Fill this morning at 5:30, a really great time. (I was on my
way back from dropping my oldest son Alex off at the Marine Corps signup
center. Yes, Alex is back from Micronesia and ready for his next biiiiggg
adventure. All thanks to you fellow tweets who have helped me get through a
very trying two and a half years following Alex on his risky ocean trips and
food-raising efforts; the efforts did save the islanders, by the way.)

Anyway, the Marines are starting Alex off on the right foot by requiring him
to take his physical at 5 in the morning. I had to drive him down there, so
I took this opportunity to bird the Fill much, much earlier than I usually
do. It was really hopping, one of those mornings when you don't know where
to look first. I mean, should I study the COMMON YELLOWTHROAT male foraging
noisily in the willows at the south end of the main pond, just two feet away
from my head, or should I watch the OSPREY hopping from branch to branch on
the dead beaver snag at the point? Maybe I should just concentrate on the
least, western and semipalmated sandpipers all foraging together at the main
pond (after all, you don't often get the chance to study all three
chock-a-block together). No, I think I'd better keep an eye on all the CEDAR
WAXWINGS hawking insects over the main pond. On the other hand, that might
make me miss the two ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS buzzing each other right over my
head. Well, I can look at them argue after I study the two SPOTTED
SANDPIPERS flying and calling as they circle the main pond. Of course, that
takes attention away from the juvenile SPOTTED TOWHEE pestering its mom for
food. Uh-oh, I guess those two CINNAMON TEALS couldn't take the racket
anymore and had to leave the main pond. I almost miss their flight because I
am watching the MARSH WREN vibrate his whole body as he calls just a few
feet away. Yowzah. Here's a complete list of what I found:

pied-billed grebe
great blue heron
Canada goose
gadwall
mallard
blue-winged teal
cinnamon teal
osprey
bald eagle
ring-necked pheasant (male and one baby)
American coot
killdeer
spotted sandpiper
semipalmated sandpiper
western sandpiper
western sandpiper
glaucous-winged gull
Vaux's swift
Anna's hummingbird
downy woodpecker
northern flicker (red-shafted)
American crow
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
Bewick's wren
marsh wren
American robin
European starling
cedar waxwing
common yellowthroat
spotted towhee
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
house finch
American goldfinch
house sparrow - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com