Hey tweets, Dowitchers do not strike me as especially dreamy birds. For
the most part, they are practical, commonsensical creatures who prefer
to take care of business. They eat in a business-like fashion. They
wear business brown, even in breeding season. They may cast a glance up
at the clouds in a cerulean sky every so often, but you can tell that
they're more interested in possible peregrines cruising the wild blue
yonder than they are in finding fanciful shapes among the clouds.

So it was a little surprising to find a flock of dowitchers this
morning frolicking in the mud that lines the main pond and Shoveler
Pond. I never knew before that dowitchers, not being equipped with long
hair, were even capable of letting their hair down.

However, this flock was the exception. One dowitcher hopped along on
one foot, splashing little droplets of water everywhere. Another nipped
at baby ducklings that were swimming among the dowitcher legs , and
then jumped when the ducklings nipped back. Two were dining rather than
methodically stitching their way along the pond, as they usually do.
They bent their heads down now and then and pulled up a worm wiggling
in the end of their flexible bills, then slurped it in like Lady and
the Tramp at the spaghetti restaurant. Meanwhile, three dowitchers were
taking a nap in the sun.

If dowitchers ever could be caught reciting poetry, the poem on their
tongues today would have been,
"Mud is very nice to feel
All squishy-squashy between the toes.
I'd rather wade in wiggly mud,
Than smell a yellow rose."

I was enjoying this aspect of dowitcher behavior when suddenly a
low-flying swallow called them back to work. They leapt up into the sky
as one, calling their tu-tu-tu calls, swung around in formation and
then settled onto Shoveler Pond, this time feeding like dowitchers on a
mission to build up their fat and get on with migration. Short-billed
Dowitchers, by their call.

Also on the mud in Shoveler Pond, a Lazuli Bunting!! - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com