Hello Tweets,

Yesterday evening before enjoying an excellent WOS meeting program we birded the Montlake Fill in Seattle. Since the Montlake Fill is right next to where the monthly WOS meetings are held it was convenient to make a walk through the area and since the weather was great too! A 45 minute walk of the Montlake Fill produced a few nice species and it was interesting to see how much the location has changed since our last visit many,many years ago. Several trails lead you around the main complex including near the shores of Union Bay and near most of the ponds too. All the larger ponds held good numbers of Gadwall with a smaller assortment of other waterfowl species including a few species that haven't migrated yet. Nearby Union Bay hosted small numbers of Lesser Scaup and Bufflehead,which could migrate any day now. At 7p an adult female Peregrine Falcon came flying through low over one of the larger ponds,which in turn attracted the attention of a large group of Am.Crows that called loudly. The Peregrine Falcon didn't flush up any of the waterfowl and circled the immediate area before flying back west towards Husky Stadium with a pursuing flock of Am.Crows leading behind. It was quite an excitement while it lasted!

A list of some of the main species noted yesterday evening at the Montlake Fill included the following:


1 pair of Pied-billed Grebes at a nest site on one of the ponds
1 Green Heron
6 Green-winged Teal
3 Cinnamon Teal
4 Northern Shovelers
1 pair of Am.Wigeon
8 Ring-necked Ducks
1 adult Bald Eagle
1 calling Ring-necked Pheasant
34 Am.Coots
5 Least Sandpipers
1 male Anna's Hummingbird
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 pair of Bushtits
3 Orange-crowned Warblers
8 Yellow-rumped Warblers
7 Savannah Sparrows


As mentioned yesterday's WOS meeting program was excellent,as Ginger Gumm and Daniel Poleschook spoke about their ongoing study of Common Loons in Washington. It was a very informing program and those that weren't there missed a great presentation! We personally met Ginger and Daniel while watching the Arctic Loon at Point No Point back in April,so we had promised them we would attend the program.

Changing subjects now we wish to mention a few yard sightings we encountered over the past 2 days,specifically by scanning the skies above. Most noteworthy included several raptor species,but a few other species were nice too. The main highlights from our residential Pierce Co. yard included the following:

3 Great Blue Herons flying over on the 8th
1 Osprey on the 8th
1 immature Bald Eagle on the 7th with an adult bird flying over on the 8th
1 female Northern Harrier on the 7th and 8th(3rd personal yard record)
1-2 Sharp-shinned Hawks on the 7th
1 Cooper's Hawk on the 7th
1-2 Red-tailed Hawks on the 7th
1 Am.Kestrel on the 8th(2nd personal yard record)
1 Killdeer on the 8th
1 pair of Purple Martins on the 7th
1 male Pileated Woodpecker on the 8th
2 Am.Pipits on the 7th(2nd personal yard record)


Our yard on the ground itself remains very slow with very little movements noted as far as migrants with just nesting species observed currently. One additional highlight of note included our very 1st dragonfly of the season noted over our yard during yesterday's warmth consisting of a California Darner.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com