Thank you Connie for helping us see before and beyond. You have a wonderful
gift.
Gene Bullock
Poulsbo
----- Original Message -----
From: "Connie Sidles" <csidles at isomedia.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 11:11 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Fall at the Fill


> Hey tweets, birders know that the Julian calendar is all wrong. For one
> thing, the four seasons are definitely not divided into four equal parts,
> nor do they change on the solstices and equinoxes.
>
> No, the seasons are really more like that map I've seen that illustrates
> how
> New Yorkers think of US geography. New York is shown filling up a good
> half
> of the map, while Seattle appears as a tiny needle, the Space Needle to be
> precise.
>
> Like that map, we could draw a similar chart of the four seasons, showing
> some huge and others teeny. Take summer, for example. Summer is by far the
> shortest of our seasons. Contrary to what hot dog and suntan lotion
> manufacturers would have you believe, summer begins in June and ends in
> June. Winter is somewhat longer. It begins in December and ends in
> mid-February. Spring begins in March and tapers off in late May. I'm
> afraid
> we don't have a name for the two-week period between the end of winter and
> the beginning of spring - we might have to invent a fifth season for this
> hiatus. Fall is by far our longest season. It began today and ends in
> November.
>
> How do I know? Because today, three LEAST SANDPIPERS showed up at the
> Fill.
> I found them this morning as they were busily probing the mud of the main
> pond. What a thrill it was to see these drab little creatures in their
> worn
> plumage, knowing that they had just come down from the tundra after having
> completed their parenting duties.
>
> One of the great things about birding is that when you know a bird's
> natural
> history, you don't just see the bird in the moment of observation. Rather,
> you can visualize it surrounded by the experiences it has lived through
> and
> that it will continue to experience.
>
> Watching those leasts this morning, I could half-close my eyes and "see"
> them up on the tundra in May, the males calling attention to themselves
> and
> the females sizing up potential mates. I can see the nests they make in
> the
> short vegetation. I watch their attempts to camouflage themselves from
> predators as they brood the eggs. I smile at the babies hatching out with
> long legs and fluff, everyone feeding happily on the trillions of mosquito
> larvae that would prefer to wait for me and my blood to show up in the
> flesh
> as it were, but they wait in vain, at least for another year.
>
> I can also see the leasts leaving the Fill, choosing a night when the wind
> blows softly from the north. I don't think it will be tonight; maybe
> tomorrow night - they looked pretty happy with the smorgasbord they were
> finding on the pond's edge, and I suspect that the CINNAMON TEAL sleeping
> nearby made them feel safe.
>
> I don't know where their next stopover will be, exactly - some place
> similar
> to the Fill in Oregon perhaps, or northern California. I'm also not sure
> where exactly they will end their journey. Some may stop in southern
> California; others may fly all the way to South America. One or two may
> not
> make it all the way to their wintering grounds - merlins know the leasts'
> habits very well, after all, and they are always on the lookout for birds
> who are too old or too sick or too unwary.
>
> When I look at birds in this expanded way, I am not limited in space,
> neither am I limited in time. I can look backwards and forwards for as
> long
> as leasts have been leasts. I can see these birds following the retreat of
> the Ice Age 12,000 years ago, every year flying a bit farther north to
> find
> the tundra and the mosquitoes. I know in years to come they will keep
> passing through the Fill in spring and fall for as long as we humans can
> safeguard this sanctuary.
>
> And we will keep the Fill safe as long as enough people can see a little
> piece of history and a little scrap of beauty in three least sandpipers
> heralding the arrival of fall.
>
> Here's everything I found today at the Fill:
> Great Blue Heron
> Green Heron
> Canada Goose
> Mallard
> Gadwall
> Cinnamon Teal
> Ring-necked Pheasant
> Killdeer
> Least Sandpiper
> American Coot
> Glaucous-winged Gull
> Rock Pigeon
> Belted Kingfisher
> Vaux's Swift
> Anna's Hummingbird
> Northern Flicker
> Downy Woodpecker
> American crow
> Barn Swallow
> Cliff Swallow
> Tree Swallow
> Violet-Green Swallow
> Black-capped Chickadee
> Bewick's Wren
> Marsh Wren
> American Robin
> European Starling
> Cedar Waxwing
> Common Yellowthroat
> Song Sparrow
> Savannah Sparrow
> White-crowned Sparrow
> Red-winged Blackbird
> Brown-headed Cowbird
> American Goldfinch
> House Finch
> - Connie, Seattle
>
> csidles at isomedia.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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