Hey tweets, if you want to see rarities at the Fill, I suggest you
glom onto Evan Houston and just follow him around for a while. He is a
bird magnet and a pretty awesome birder as well. I only wish I had
stuck to him when he saw his Chipping Sparrow today. I was foolishly
off birding by myself when he came to get me to show me the sparrow.
What was I thinking? At any rate, I set up my camp stool right next to
him on Wahkiakum Trail near the signage and tried to relocate the
sparrow. No luck. Pretty soon, other birders showed up. They wanted to
know what we were looking at. Soon we had a small crowd gathered, all
staring at the field. It was a riot to be there on this day in that
company. Even though we never saw the Chipping Sparrow again, we had a
chance to talk about this activity that we all love so much, in a
setting as beautiful as anything you could wish for. Honestly,
sometimes I don't know if I have more fun finding birds or finding
friends out there in my favorite place on Earth.

At any rate, there we were chatting and staring at the field when all
of a sudden, up popped a spotted thrush from the grove around the
failed pond. It perched for a few moments in full light in full view.
Evan and I both think it was a Swainson's Thrush, knowing how more
likely a Hermit's would be. Although neither one of us got a good look
at the tail while the bird perched, I clearly saw smudgy, palish dots
(not darkish ones, as in Hermit Thrush), a lot of buff wash on the
breast, chin and face, and a bold, buffy eye-ring - not white. When it
flew, I looked at the tail and did not see any contrasting color,
which I think I would have seen even though the bird was flying away
from us. For me, the overall buffiness of the face and breast and eye-
ring distinguish this bird from Hermit Thrush. A great bird, and
completely unexpected in that little grove.

Also on view today, an Orange-crowned Warbler in the cottonwood grove
south of where we saw the thrush. This little guy was about as bright
an Orange-crowned as I've ever seen. Four American Pipits were out in
the field west of the Main Pond. They flew off to the south, but later
on, two returned to the same place. Common Yellowthroats were singing
in at least three locations, and the strong, silent type who was in
the easternmost pond yesterday apparently decided to check out the
Main Pond today. Still silently. A Yellow-shafted Flicker was showing
off her yellow shafts today near the greenhouses. I don't think she's
pure Yellow-shafted - there may be a few Red-Shafted genes in her
makeup - but she's close. Her call sounds squeakier than the Red-
shafted. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com