Hey tweets, yesterday evening brought out the people as much as the
birds at the Fill. There were: fishermen, baby walkers, a guy shooting
off toy rockets, joggers, canoists, kayakers, picnickers, salamander
searchers, party-goers, camera buffs, and of course birders. Sharing
all this human activity were resident and migrant birds.

I think this conglomeration of wild (birds) and woolly (people)
critters may very well define the future of nature for much of our
planet, as we edge up toward an estimated 8 billion people populating
Earth by the time we hit equilibrium. This is one of the main reasons
why I like to keep track of species diversity at the Fill. I think the
number of species present there is an even more significant statistic
than the total number of bird bodies, since totals can get out of whack
quite easily and harmfully as we tamper with natural balances. Crows
are a perfect example. There must have been a thousand at the Fill last
night, which is not as nature intended. While most of them were minding
their own business, roosting and bathing and cawing, a few were doing
tag-team chases of the poor killdeers and one hapless SNOW GOOSE.

In terms of species diversity, I saw 37 species, pretty good for the
last 2 hours of daylight:

pied-billed grebe (in breeding plumage)
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron (in full breeding plumage)
snow goose
Canada goose
mallard
gadwall
green-winged teal
American wigeon
northern shoveler
ring-billed duck
greater scaup
bufflehead
common merganser
hooded merganser
American coot
killdeer
glaucous-winged gull
ring-billed gull
bald eagle
red-tailed hawk
ring-necked pheasant
downy woodpecker
tree swallow
barn swallow
American crow
bushtit
black-capped chickadee
Bewick's wren
marsh wren
American robin
AMERICAN PIPIT (flock of 7)
European starling
yellow-rumped warbler (both Audubon's and myrtle)
white-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
American goldfinch - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com