Hey tweets, I guess if you're a duck 95 percent of whom is among the
most beautiful in all of duckdom, then it's only fitting that your
last five percent be dumpy. Such is the case for Hooded Mergansers, as
I discovered today when several females hauled themselves out of the
cold pewter-gray lake onto a convenient log afloat on the slough. My,
they have have ugly legs and feet: short, stubby, fat, and monotonic.
I can see why they rarely come out of the water. If I had feet like
that, I'd never go barefoot. Oh wait, I do.

The females had inserted themselves into a line of Common Mergansers
already asleep on the log, a bed which was really too narrow to
accommodate all of the Commons' bodies. So the mergansers allowed
themselves to slump over each side of the log like living beanbag
chairs. Where they keep their bones was impossible to say. It was all
extremely funny.

In the field where the greenhouses are located, I found a gorgeous
CHIPPING SPARROW this morning. It popped up onto the mesh of the fence
to pose for a few moments, then dove down into the short grass to
forage. Later on, it perched at the top of the rose bush near the
fence and sang for me. I figured it was for me because the bird eyed
me the whole time, kind of like Luciano on camera - he always looks at
you to make sure you're watching him. Then the sparrow flew straight
at my head, almost brushing my hair, and onto one of the trees in the
demonstration garden. The bird is in fresh breeding plumage - so much
more satisfying than fall birds - rufous crown, black line through the
eye, white eyebrow. When the sparrow left its perch, all I could see
in my binoculars as the bird flew toward me was its rufous crown
growing bigger and bigger and ... whoa! I flinched out of the way.

By the way, I just talked to the CUH folks about the white board, and
donations are starting to come in. You guys are wonderful. The CUH is
thrilled, but one thing I didn't realize when I asked you all for help
was the administrative hoops that have to get jumped through to
acknowledge gifts. At least two letters of thanks get generated, and a
lot of data gets entered. If you want to bypass all this - and make it
easier on the CUH to process donations - please think about sending
cash (if you're okay with that), or dropping off cash at the CUH
reception desk near the CUH library, or perhaps including a note with
your check saying you don't need an acknowledgement or receipt. We're
well on our way toward seeing this project come true, thanks to all of
you. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com