Subject: [Tweeters] bank swallow, sapsucker
Date: Jun 4 08:59:29 2007
From: Constance Sidles - csidles at isomedia.com


Hey tweets, I played hooky the entire weekend (for which I shall pay
dearly this week, but it's worth it) and went up to the north and
central parts of our state. I encountered Dennis Paulson's master
birder reunionists and was very grateful to them for the dipper nest.
I've never see dipper babies before, and that was quite a sight. The
nest was wedged into a small den clinging to the side of a basalt
cliff. The two babies were poking their heads out, waiting for the
parents to bring food. Their heads were pointing downward, so how they
kept from sliding right out of the nest and into the flowing creek was
beyond me. I've slept on many a hillside in a sleeping bag and slid
right out if my head was pointing the wrong way. Were they hanging on
with their toes? Glued in? Breaking the laws of physics? I couldn't
say. I did see one species not mentioned by the group: a pair of
WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS hanging around Taneum Spring. The female was
especially loud.

On Sunday, I headed up to County Line Ponds to look for redstarts. No
luck. The ponds seemed rather quiet, bird-wise, compared to other
years. Maybe the bird songs were masked by the howling wind, which
picked up midmorning and never quit. I scrutinized every tree for any
sign of birds, but the branches and leaves were swinging around like
bolos. The only birds I could identify were a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER,
which clung to the moss of the tree trunks as it flapped out like a
wind sock at the airport; a BELTED KINGFISHER, seesawing up and down on
a branch over a pond; and a female COMMON MERGANSER that blew in from
who knew where. She seemed glad to have found a place to stop. I gave
up on the ponds and headed over to the Martin Road WDFL pullout, hoping
to find buntings and black swifts. No luck with them, but the swallow
viewing was prime, once again due to the howling wind. The swallows
would toil down the river against the wind, then turn and blow past me
at a thousand miles per hour. It was a bit hard to see them, due to the
sandstorm kicked up in the parking lot. I thought I saw a camel fly by
to the theme music of Lawrence of Arabia, but that might have been my
imagination. On squint-view were BANK SWALLOWS, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED
SWALLOWS, BARN SWALLOWS, CLIFFS, and VIOLET-GREENS. Truthfully, I
wasn't absolutely sure about the bank swallows until I saw a pair
huddled on the road itself, clinging to the asphalt for dear life with
their little feet. I was glad to find them this side of the mountains.
- Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com