We were at the fill between 1 and 2 the same day and the ponds were nearly
empty. The far south west pond (I am still not sure which ponds have what
names) had the most activity and that was mostly mallards. There was a
pied-billed grebe with two babies...at least they looked like grebe babies..
the color on the head matched, the stripes were a little less obvious but
there. We saw two great blue herons, one on the pond the other in the lily
pads on the lake. We didn't see even one sandpiperish bird. But the cloudy
day made for great vaux swift, violet-green swallow, and barn swallow
viewing. They were putting on quite the acrobatic air-show.
We noticed the ceramic blue bird nests that were hung near the lake shore..
I guessed they were for martins...is that right?

After leaving the fill we went out to carkeek park to get some more walking
in and hopefully see more birds. The walking was good...the birding not so.
However, off on a distant patch of sand further south I did spy one
sandpiper ...unfortunately I was too far away to see which kind...even if it
would have held still long enough!

We gave up on shore birds and went walking through the rest of the park and
while near the model airplane area I heard terns. There were seven terns
that landed on the beach among all the crows and rock doves. There were five
that were caspians and two that looked a bit different, but by the time i
started to try and focus in on those two someone walked a bit too close and
they all took off flying high into the sky to the south. That was satisfying
enough to focus on the walking for the rest of the time we were there...oh
that and the blackberries!

Happy Birding,

Maurie Kirschner
Seattle, WA
maurieckirschnerATcomcast.net




-------Original Message-------

From: stuart at blarg.net
Date: 08/22/04 12:53:47
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Montlake Fill 8/22 am

Still a little wet this morning - perhaps the evening will have more
active birds. A few migrants to be seen however:

7 yellow warblers
4 orange-crowned warblers
1 pacific slope flycatcher
4+ common yellowthroats
1 spotted towhee - at the central pond - unusual
3 least sandpipers
2 spotted sandpipers
1 peregrine falcon
3 green herons
1 great blue heron
5 wood ducks
10-20 cedar waxwings
4 violet green swallows
10+ Vaux's swifts
1 Steller's jay

There was a constant stream of swallows pushing south against the
breeze and heading out over Lake Washington.


Stuart
--
Stuart MacKay, Seattle, WA, USA