Hey tweets, I know that birding is a highly developed skill that one can
keep honing for a lifetime. I also know that really skilled birders see more
on a given outing than unskilled birders do, having frequently been on the
short end of that stick.

And then there's the matter of luck. Not having much myself, I always deeply
appreciate those rare times when the heavens open up and the light of
blessing falls rapturously upon my head. For some reason, yesterday at the
Fill was such a time. The heavens were extremely generous with their
blessings.

For example, I happened to glance up at the Montlake Cut area just in time
to see a CASPIAN TERN fly by, with his bill pointing downward as he hunted
for fish. He was gone in a moment and did not return. You had to be there at
exactly the right time and place to see him.

Then there was the GREAT BLUE HERON that flew to the edge of Union Bay and
landed just a few feet away from me. He had a catfish in his bill that he
was planning to eat. Before he was willing to swallow it down, however, he
wanted to make very, very sure it was dead. So he shook it a few times,
dropped it and watched to see if it flopped. It didn't. Still not satisfied,
the heron stabbed the fish twice more, then dropped it into a little bowl of
water formed by a couple of lily pads, watching to see if it flopped. It
did, so the heron stabbed it a few more times. When the fish was dead enough
to satisfy even this conservative heron, the bird flipped it head first and
swallowed it down the hatch. Although I wanted to share this special moment
with another birder, or even another human being, I was the only person to
see it. Luck again.

Here's a complete list of all things I found yesterday (in two trips, one in
the early morning, one in the late evening; conditions were sunny and
still):

pied-billed grebe
great blue heron
Canada goose
gadwall
mallard
cinnamon teal
ring-necked duck
wood duck
bald eagle
ring-necked pheasant
American coot
killdeer
western sandpiper
least sandpiper
glaucous-winged gull
Caspian tern
Vaux's swift
Anna's hummingbird
rufous hummingbird
downy woodpecker
northern flicker (red-shafted)
American crow
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
black-capped chickadee
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
house finch
American goldfinch