Hey tweets, After many, many days of wind and rain, I simply had to get down
to the Fill to see how it was doing. Conditions were warm and a bit breezy
but otherwise perfect for viewing.

I can report that many branches are down but no trees. Shoveler Pond is
starting to fill up - the grasses are brown and flattened, so it won't be
long until shovelers appear, making the name of the pond understandable. You
have no idea how difficult it was this summer to explain to birders on my
guided walks that yes indeed, this was a pond, and it did get large numbers
of shoveler ducks, and no, it didn't always look like the Gobi Desert.

Building continues apace on the new CU. The construction guys have knocked
down the burned-out part and are digging something or other up. I learned
that the new CUH will be quite a bit bigger and will extend out farther
south as well as west. The birds do not mind the sounds of building at all.
In fact, there were so many birds stuffed into every available bush and tree
that I couldn't have found a rarity to save my life. Too many goldfinches,
white-crowned sparrows, yellow-rumped warblers, chickadees, hummingbirds and
towhees. Oddly, no house finches. I assumed that the entire Fill must be as
stuffed, thinking that the good weather was encouraging everyone to come out
and eat eat eat. Nope. The remainder of the Fill was almost completely
empty, except for the ducks. Then I saw why: a sharp-shinned hawk seems to
have moved in for the winter. It had stationed itself near the main pond. I
kept my eye on it and saw it heading out toward the lake, flapping hard
against the south wind. I thought it was going to Foster Island, but
suddenly it turned and, using the wind as an accelerator, it shot like a
comet toward an unwary kingfisher hovering over the main pond. The
kingfisher flew like an arrow straight into the willows - I never saw one
fly so fast. I didn't think they *could* fly that fast. The hawk missed and
disappeared. Shortly afterwards, the female kingfisher showed up and scolded
her mate all the way back to their burrow behind the greenhouses. I could
still hear her scolding long after they had disappeared from view. I'm sure
she thought her mate had been very stupid, so she was yelling at him to be
sure he wouldn't do that again. It reminded me of the time my husband was
speeding and got pulled over by a state trooper. The trooper took his time
ambling up to our car, so I had plenty of leisure to speak my mind to my
errant spouse. When the trooper got there, my husband rolled down his window
to apologize for speeding and to ask for his ticket. But the trooper took
one look at my face and said, "Uh, I guess you've already been punished
enough." I guess he must have felt that in such situations, men should stick
together. Anyway, he turned around without another word, got back into his
patrol car and drove off.

The pied-billed grebes were out in force on Union Bay, along with good
numbers of mallards, gadwalls, shovelers and wigeons. I didn't see any wood
ducks, but I did see a sight that Martin Mueller, our resident pied-bill
grebe guru, said I should treasure all my life, if I should ever be lucky
enough to see it: I saw a pied-bill grebe fly today. I have no idea what got
it going, but all of a sudden, the grebe starting running across the top of
the water like a coot, flapping in time with each step, and then it was
airborne. With its neck stretched out and its head flat and reaching
forward, it looked far more grebe-like in the air than it ever does on the
water. A flash of white underwing and belly and then splash, it was done.
The whole flight couldn't have lasted more than a couple of seconds. Even
the Wright brothers stayed aloft longer, but still it was an inspiring
flight.

To top off the day, I saw a flock of some 17 American pipits by the
greenhouses. Now I can go back to the work, the rain, the dark, the fact
that I may need to call the plumber again - all with a happy heart and a
smile on my face.

Here's a list of everything I found today:

pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant
Canada goose
mallard
gadwall
green-winged teal
American wigeon
American coot
ring-billed gull
glaucous-winged gull
sharp-shinned hawk
ring-necked pheasant
Anna's hummingbird
belted kingfisher
northern flicker
Steller's jay
American crow
blackcapped chickadee
American robin
American pipit
cedar waxwing
European starling
yellow-rumped warbler
spotted towhee
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
golden-crowned sparrow
dark-eyed junco
red-winged blackbird
American goldfinch- Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com