Hey tweets, One of the reasons why I wanted to be a master birder was so
that when I was out in the field and saw a bird I could not identify,
instead of feeling stupid, I could say, "Well, that's okay. *I* am a master
birder." This comforting little speech would of course carry the implication
that no reasonable human being could have identified that bird. Roger Tory
Peterson maybe, but he's dead.

My theory got put to a severe test yesterday. While I was leading a Seattle
Audubon trip around the Fill, we came upon a SOLITARY SANDPIPER at Shoveler
Pond. It was in full breeding plumage. It had rather yellow legs, though,
which caused me to really study it. Was it a lesser yellowlegs? Or was it a
rarity from Siberia? If so, what rarity? Wood sandpiper maybe? Green? Where
was Dennis Paulson when I needed him? Or Stuart McKay?

The weight of being a master birder leading thirteen other birders pressed
down upon me. All of them looked to me to identify the bird. And looked. And
looked. Should I just disgorge everything I knew about tringids (which
clearly was not as much as I had thought)? Or should we just start talking
about baseball?

Luckily the bird stayed around a long time. We all got great looks and
discussed every feature. We all finally agreed that a solitary sandpiper was
what it had to be. And perhaps that whole experience was more fun for
everyone than if I had been able to say offhandedly and immediately, "Oh
yeah, that. That's a solitary sandpiper. Yawn." One reason why I seldom go
on trips myself is that I hate it when the trip leader starts spouting off
identifications like a July 4 sparkler shooting sparks. I'd rather solve the
mystery myself. Best of all, I like to solve the mystery in a community of
birders who all love the same thing: being out in nature on a gorgeous day,
looking at birds and helping each other.

Also of note: Our first VAUX'S SWIFT of the year, and ALL THREE TEALS.

Here's everything else we saw:
pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
Canada goose (the first babies of the year)
mallard
gadwall
green-winged teal
American wigeon
northern shoveler (along with a white one/yellow bill that looked like a
weird combo of shoveler and domestic)
blue-winged teal
cinnamon teal
lesser scaup
bufflehead
common merganser
hooded merganser
Virginia rail (heard, not seen)
American coot
killdeer
solitary sandpiper
glaucous-winged gull
bald eagle
ring-necked pheasant
Vaux's swift
Anna's hummingbird
northern flicker
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
barn swallow
Steller's jay (heard, not seen)
American crow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
Bewick's wren
marsh wren
American robin
European starling
yellow-rumped warbler
common yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
golden-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
house sparrow
American goldfinch - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com