Subject: [Tweeters] Fun-filled evening at The Fill
Date: Apr 27 12:00:12 2007
From: Evan Houston - evanghouston at yahoo.com


Hi Tweeters,
Hearing about all of the recent area shorebird sightings brought me out to the Union Bay Natural Area (aka, The Fill) last night (Thursday from about 5:15-7:45) to see what I could find. Although the moderate cool breeze seemed to make the passerines less active and visible than normal, it was a glorious evening nonetheless.
I found many of the same species that Connie found the day before in her trip to The Fill ??? in total I found 49 species with the following highlights (nothing particularly out of the ordinary):

Cinnamon Teal ??? 1 pair
Common Merganser ??? the largest flock I???ve seen in flight (in my limited experience), about 18 ??? perhaps gathering up for a short migration?
Cooper???s Hawk ??? one adult stopped by the area briefly, setting off vociferous Killdeer alarm calls, which may explain the brevity of the visit
Five shorebird day:
Killdeer
Wilson???s Snipe ??? I flushed two
Dunlin ??? 1 in breeding plumage
Western and Least Sandpipers ??? the Dunlin and these two were feeding along Shoveler Pond. The group of about 12 appeared to be mainly Westerns, but at least 2 had yellow legs (very subtle in the cloud-obscured late evening), less rufous head and wing covert tones, and grayer, less distinctly streaked sides of breast, so I identified these as Leasts. I tried to look at their bills, but the darn guys were too busy feeding with rapidfire movements!
Vaux???s Swift ??? as the sun was about to set, at least 6 showed up, and I was privy to their twittering and aerial acrobatics
Anna???s Hummingbird ??? at least three males were jockeying for space in the bushes behing the CUH; the few rays of the sun last night caught their gorgets for blinding flashes of magenta
Orange-crowned Warbler ??? one
Brown-headed Cowbird ??? I???m not sure if I consider the 3 males I saw to be a highlight or not, given the egg-laying habits of their species, but the noises they make are pretty cool.

Good birdwatching,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA



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