Hey tweets, Three barn swallows were at the Fill this morning, flying
around catching insects just south of the dime parking lot. The first of
the year. That and the warm sunshine on my back convinced me that spring
*will* come soon. I suspect the swallows blew up on the south wind without
needing to flap even once. Wasn't that a terrific blow yesterday? I've
lived in Seattle pretty much all my life, and I've never experienced a
bigger gust of wind than the one that came roaring through my neighborhood
at 1:30 p.m. yesterday. It split a giant fir tree right in half. The tree
ripped off a neighbor's porch and downed a bunch of wires but luckily hurt
nobody.

Surprisingly, the big cottonwood trees at the Fill all seem to have
survived the wind storm, although many smaller trees are down. The
secluded pond south of the dime parking lot is no longer secluded. Almost
all the trees around the perimeter are either flattened or cracked off.

Birds were everywhere this morning. Besides the barn swallows, I saw two
LINCOLN'S SPARROWS, which have been pretty sparse at the Fill all winter.
Also on view was the GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, looking increasingly out
of place as the Canadas begin to pair up. The WOOD DUCKS are out in force,
in full breeding plumage, and a lovely MARSH WREN thought it was spring.
He came out completely into the open, lifted up his head, opened his bill,
and poured out his song, such as it was. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com