Hey tweets, sorry for the late post, but my brain is telling me it's
time to hibernate, or at least put my feet up near the heater and sip a
mug of hot spiced cider. Makes it hard to post sightings, or even to
*get* sightings, since you have to leave your cozy nest to go outdoors.

At any rate, the Fill yesterday was a soft explosion of colors and
sounds. The gigantic leaves from the poplar trees are breaking off at
the stems one by one and parachuting earth-ward, making little popping
noises as they hit other leaves and branches. It's a stately fall,
unlike what happened to my goofy cherry tree in the front yard. This
year, my tree apparently decided to shrug once and drop all its leaves
in a heap. Usually it drops its leaves more gradually, such that the
small amounts of leaves that fall at any one time all blow into my
neighbor's yard, who then has the pleasure of raking them up. That
pleasure was all mine this time around. I filled 2.5 garbage cans full
of cherry leaves. But I digress.

The Fill was very lively yesterday morning near the picnic tables. Tons
of American Robins vied with Red-winged Blackbirds and European
Starlings for food among the poplars. It was a circus of performers too
numerous to see all at once. Smaller finches, sparrows, kinglets, and
juncos dashed among the leaves too. I camp-stooled from one vantage
point to the next, each site more beautiful and hard to leave. I think
it took me 2 hours to get out of the parking lot.

The rest of the Fill was quieter, but with patience, I saw 41 species.
Best birds of the day: the NORTHERN SHRIKE is still present, along with
two COMMON GOLDENEYES, a EURASIAN WIGEON, and a late SAVANNAH SPARROW.
LINCOLN'S SPARROWS were everywhere. The younger Red-tailed Hawk caught
a small nutria and hauled it up to a tree limb overhanging the point.
The hawks are doing really well at the Fill, catching mice, rats,
voles, and even birds. I think they are going to be permanent
residents. At least, I hope so. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com