Subject: [Tweeters] Fill followup
Date: Aug 14 16:27:35 2005
From: Connie Sidles - csidles at isomedia.com


Hey tweets, The Fill was kind of quiet this morning. I figured I'd do better
by getting there really early, but no such luck. I arrived at 7 a.m. and
already the place was still. On the plus side, no breeze. On the minus side,
not too many birds. On the plus side, no bikers. On the minus side, several
dogs without leashes, at least until the owners got a look at my frownie
face. One woman was about to claim that her leash-less dog was perfectly
under her command at all times when, unfortunately for her argument, it
leaped past the open door of my car onto my front seat! She had a terrible
time trying to get it to come out again. I was no help. Between laughing and
staying out of the dog's reach (on the theory that once in my car, the dog
would assume ownership and defend its new territory from strangers, i.e.,
me), I was incapacitated.

After solving the dog ejection problem, I did manage to see some warblers
coming through: YELLOW and ORANGE-CROWNED, along with numerous COMMON
YELLOWTHROATS, some of whom I think hatched at the Fill. Shorebirds were
pretty sparse: one LEAST, one WILSON'S SNIPE, one SPOTTED, one KILLDEER.
Perhaps the COOPER'S HAWK that swept through and buzzed the main pond was
the reason for the dearth of shorebirds.

Anyway, it was very beautiful this morning, with the sun slanting through
the misty air. Fall sunlight has a different color than any other, a kind of
rich gold that inspires in me both a melancholy (for the passing of the
year) and a joyous anticipation (for the start of the school year). Of
course, all my kids are grown now so I no longer experience that delightful
freedom that comes when you see their backpacks bobbing away into the
distance. But fall is still my favorite season. You never know what may turn
up. Here's everything I saw this morning:

pied-billed grebe
great blue heron
Canada goose
mallard
gadwall
NORTHERN SHOVELER
green-winged teal
American coot
killdeer
LEAST SANDPIPER
SPOTTED SANDPIPER
WILSON'S SNIPE
glaucous-winged gull
Cooper's hawk
rock pigeon
Anna's hummingbird
belted kingfisher
northern flicker
downy woodpecker
barn swallow
American crow
black-capped chickadee
Bewick's wren
American robin
cedar waxwing
European starling
yellow warbler
orange-crowned warbler
common yellowthroat
white-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
American goldfinch
house finch - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com