Subject: [Tweeters] Mourning Dove at the Fill
Date: Oct 1 13:10:21 2006
From: csidles at isomedia.com - csidles at isomedia.com


Hey tweets, I birded the westernmost slough at the Fill today and found it
to be stuffed with birds. The best ones were a MOURNING DOVE perched on an
artificial snag in the dime parking lot pond, and a NORTHERN PINTAIL
dabbling just south of the dime parking lot. There were several breeding
plumaged male WOOD DUCKS here, also, along with a flock of 25-plus CEDAR
WAXWINGS. This is the same area where, earlier in the year, people saw
green herons, Bullock's orioles, and Virginia rails. Eventually, a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK showed up, driving everybody into cover, so I moved on.

The HORNED GREBE is still on the main pond, and the LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER
that's been hanging out there has now been joined by a fellow long-billed
dowitcher. The new dowitcher didn't like it when I showed up, and he
started peeping, but the first dowitcher knew me and didn't pay any
attention. Instead, he began swimming across the pond. This dowitcher
loves to swim about as much as a phalarope does - he'd rather swim than
fly. But this predilection bothered the newcomer, who starting peeping
more. When the swimming dowitcher was about halfway across the pond, the
peeping one flew up and circled him, still peeping. So finally the first
dowitcher, who probably would have shrugged his shoulders if he'd had any,
flew a few feet too, then settled back to swimming. Definitely an
individual, which may be why he's been so content to be by himself on the
pond all these days. A flocking kind of dowitcher would have headed south
long ago. It will be interesting to see in the next few days if the more
conventionally minded dowitcher who showed up today will be able to
convince his maverick compadre to fly south to join a flock, or whether
the maverick will convert his staid fellow to stick around with us.

Here's everything I saw today:
pied-billed grebe
horned grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
Canada goose
wood duck
mallard
gadwall
northern pintail
American wigeon
northern shoveler
green-winged teal
ruddy duck
Cooper's hawk
sharp-shinned hawk
American coot
killdeer
long-billed dowitcher
glaucous-winged gull
ring-billed gull
mourning dove
rock pigeon
Anna's hummingbird
belted kingfisher
northern flicker
downy woodpecker
Steller's jay
American crow
black-capped chickadee
Bewick's wren
marsh wren
American robin
cedar waxwing
yellow-rumped warbler
spotted towhee
song sparrow
savannah sparrow
golden-crowned sparrow
house finch
American goldfinch - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com