Hey tweets, sorry for the last posting, but I found two PECTORAL SANDPIPERS
at the Montlake Fill yesterday afternoon. They were preening nervously at
the south end of the main pond. Also on the pond was a GREATER YELLOWLEGS.
The yellowlegs has been there long enough to get used to me, so it doesn't
flush when it sees me coming.

The KILLDEERS, however, are another story. What is wrong with these birds?
I've been seeing the same three killdeers every day for more than a month. I
sit beside the pond on my camp stool for up to an hour each day. I never try
to eat them. I don't even tell them scary bedtime stories. And yet they act
like I'm a peregrine about to invite them to lunch.

I spent an hour yesterday afternoon, slowly approaching the pectoral
sandpipers, who were standing next to those pesky killdeers. I got close
enough for one really great look, and then 2 seconds later, the killdeers
gave their alarm call and flushed. Of course the pectorals followed suit.
Luckily, the pectorals flew only across the pond to the other side. So,
patiently I stalked them again. But by this time, they were really spooky
and flushed as soon as they caught sight of me.

I decided not to chase them back and forth across the pond since that would
exhaust everyone to no purpose. Instead I contented myself with looking at
them across the water. They are a beautiful pair.

Also at the Fill yesterday was a RED-TAILED HAWK perched on the chainlink
fence south of the greenhouses. I think it must have killed something big
before I arrived because it pounced onto the grass and mantled. This is a
very tame bird. John said the day before, he saw it catch a rat and take it
into a low, head-high branch of the cottonwoods near the east entrance of
Wahkiakum Trail. John was standing right there, but the hawk didn't seem to
care. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com