Hey tweets, There is a glade east of the greenhouses where dappled
sunlight filters through the trees and where you are completely walled
off from the hustle and bustle of the urban world. The birds there lead
private lives - BUSHTITs with beakfuls of fluff are building their
nests in there right now. BEWICK'S WRENS are busy at their holes. A
SPOTTED TOWHEE hops higher and higher up the ladder of a many-branched
tree, to stand at the top, fling back his head, and pour forth his
song. Not melodious, perhaps. Well, in all honesty, it sounds like a
cicada on steroids, but hey, a guy's gotta sing.

I planted my camp stool in the middle of all these lives this morning
and drank it in. The longer I sat, the more I noticed, as birds began
to take me for granted. The HERMIT THRUSH that lives down there popped
out for a brief look. He froze on branch when he saw me, and we waited
each other out. Hermit thrushes are good at freezing and waiting, but
I've been trained by the herons. The thrush blinked and flew off, to be
replaced in a few seconds by a BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, a far more
exuberant, loud-beaked guy. The sun came out from behind the clouds and
lit him up like a bonfire. What a thrill to see such a sight, to live
on such a planet, to share a glade.

Several years ago, my writing students interviewed an astronaut who had
been on two space shuttle missions. I remember thinking how strange his
eyes looked. Kind of distant, like he wasn't seeing us alone when he
looked at us, but he was seeing something else too. His eyes had gazed
upon sights that few other humans have ever seen. I think those photons
had changed his eyes forever. Birders have eyes like that, too. Mine
were changed today by a living bonfire who perched briefly before me,
then flew off, leaving an indelible after-image behind.

Here's what else I saw today:

pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron
Canada goose
mallard
gadwall
green-winged teal
northern shoveler
CINNAMON TEAL (at least two pair)
ring-necked duck
bufflehead
common merganser
killdeer
LEAST SANDPIPER (flock of more than 20)
WESTERN SANDPIPER (just one today)
glaucous-winged gull
TURKEY VULTURE
bald eagle
Cooper's hawk
red-tailed hawk
ring-necked pheasant
Vaux's swift (flock of at least 20)
Anna's hummingbird
northern flicker
violet-green swallow
tree swallow
barn swallow
cliff swallow
American crow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
marsh wren
American robin
HERMIT THRUSH
European starling
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
yellow-rumped warbler (both kinds)
common yellowthroat
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK
spotted towhee
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW
savannah sparrow
red-winged blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
American goldfinch - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com