Hey tweets, Everything showed up in a rush today at the Fill. I got there at
7:30 a.m. and started birding at the slough next to the golf driving range.
There I saw a HERMIT THRUSH being harassed by a robin. I see hermit thrushes
at the Fill only once or twice a year, so that was a real treat.
GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWs were pecking on the verge and singing, so I knew it
wouldn't be long before they speed north.

I checked the trees for warblers and found one very active tree - why birds
do this, focusing so heavily on one tree day after day when so many other
trees look perfectly good, is a mystery. It can't be because only one tree
has bugs, because if that's so, I want a cutting of that tree to plant in my
yard so as to attract all the bugs away from my apple trees. Anyway, in this
tree were hordes of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (both varieties) in glorious
breeding plumage. I looked in vain for other warblers - the only
disappointment of the day.

After that, I hiked down the gravel road to the dime parking lot and birded
that for an hour. Just a riot of birds, of which the best were some BREWER'S
BLACKBIRDS, not very common at the Fill.

I strolled around the loop trail to the main pond, where the shorebirds have
finally arrived. I saw good numbers of LEAST and WESTERN SANDPIPERS. I
couldn't find the solitary that was around yesterday, but that may have been
because the hail storm started right about then, and I headed for cover.

Here's everything I saw:
pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
Canada goose
mallard
gadwall
green-winged teal
American wigeon
northern shoveler
cinnamon teal
ring-necked duck
greater scaup
bufflehead
common merganser
American coot
killdeer
least sandpiper
western sandpiper
glaucous-winged gull
ring-necked pheasant
Anna's hummingbird
northern flicker
downy woodpecker
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
barn swallow
Steller's jay
American crow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
Bewick's wren
marsh wren
American robin
hermit thrush
European starling
yellow-rumped warbler
common yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
savannah sparrow
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
golden-crowned sparrow
Lincoln's sparrow
red-winged blackbird
Brewer's blackbird
American goldfinch
house finch - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com