Hey tweets, the giant armada of wigeons that has been holding out to
sea (i.e., Lake Washington) all winter finally docked yesterday on the
main pond at the Fill. Wigeons came flying in by the score until there
was a flotilla of more than 400 ducks on that little pond. I think they
must have been trying to take shelter from the fierce wind that blew
remorselessly off the lake. They were pretty skittish. You know the
call they always give: Two-TWO-Two, Two-TWO-Two. What you may not know
is that when they're alarmed, and there are vast numbers of them, they
ramp up the speed of their Two-TWO-Twos in a chorus, until it sounds
like a hyped-up version of Scott Joplin playing a quick-time rag on a
penny whistle. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my camp stool.

Someone told me once that in Washington state, you can expect to see
one Eurasian Wigeon for every hundred American Wigeons. The ratio did
not hold up yesterday, but there were at least two EURASIANS in that
big flock.

Other highlights were almost as awesome:

Six (!) BALD EAGLES soaring and courting in the skies above the Fill.

Six GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE still present, as they have been all
winter.

Dozens of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS everywhere, making me wonder where the
heck they have been in earlier months.

Two flocks of a dozen CACKLERS grazing on the grass.

Also present in the wigeon flock were some NORTHERN PINTAILS (not that
common at the Fill), and some RUDDY DUCKS. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com