Hey tweets, it was a glorious morning at the Fill. I got there at 6:30
and only wish I had arrived an hour sooner. The place was simply
stuffed with great birds. Among the best were three BLACK SWIFTS flying
fairly low over the cottonwood grove near the eastern start of
Wahkiakum Trail. They were mixed in with numerous VAUX'S SWIFTS, so it
was a good chance to compare them. Near the Wedding Rock was a
CALIFORNIA QUAIL, the first I've seen at the Fill in years. He was
strutting out in plain view near a RING-NECKED PHEASANT - couldn't
figure out that juxtaposition and don't want to even speculate. Both
were calling as loudly as they could and puffing out the parts of
themselves that they had to puff with. I found myself humming,
"Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than
you."

At one point, the gray clouds rolled in but the sun found a hole to
break through. There is a special color to the light when that happens,
and everything gets much more intense. The white on the Canada Geese
gleamed like they were lit from within. The robins glowed molten
copper, and the yellowthroats turned gold. Who needs base metals like
silver, copper, or gold when you can have the precious ore of life
itself? Economists can talk about how the market runs the world. But
there is no price the market could put on the kind of morning I
experienced. Its value lies elsewhere.

Here is everything I saw today:
pied-billed grebe
great blue heron
Canada goose
mallard
gadwall
northern shoveler
CINNAMON TEAL
AMERICAN WIGEON
killdeer
glaucous-winged gull
bald eagle
sharp-shinned hawk
ring-necked pheasant
CALIFORNIA QUAIL
rock pigeon
Vaux's swift
BLACK SWIFT
rufous hummingbird
Anna's hummingbird
barn swallow
cliff swallow
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
American crow
black-capped chickadee
bushtit
Bewick's wren
marsh wren
American robin
cedar waxwing
European starling
common yellowthroat
song sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
savannah sparrow
red-winged blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
American goldfinch
house finch - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com