After a quick (for me:? 1.5 hrs.) stop at the Montlake Fill after work on Sat. afternoon, I left? quite content with nearly 50 species.? Most satisfying was the loud clanging over the main pond around 1:45, heralding the arrival of a Greater Yellowlegs, and the end of a notably shorebird-less spring.? Unfortunately, after not even a minute of jockeying for position among the half-asleep shovelers and Gadwalls along the limited mud of the west shore, it continued on, clanging off to the south.
It's a start, anyway.
Also inspiring was the sight of a Purple Finch singing his heart out for the fifth (today was the sixth) consecutive day.? His concerts always take place in the ivy-laden dead trees standing between the open grass and cattail marsh at the southeast corner of the Fill proper.? Today, he and his apparent mate were actively engaged in chasing a male House Finch out of "their" little corner.? I'll be watching that area for little puffy PUFI fledgelings in the weeks to come.
Of course, immediately upon returning home to my computer Saturday, and discovering all that I had MISSED, a good portion of my self-satisfaction wore off.? I've been eagerly anticipating a White-throated Sparrow in the bramble tangles in and around the Fill for a long time now, so Connie Sidles' post got me dragging my nonbirding partner right back there this morning.? We arrived at the spot on Surber, right where a fat laurel hedge forms the stark border between wild, brushy tangles and the manicured gardens of Laurelhurst.? Connie was already in place.? The birders' most dreaded 8 words, "you should have been here 5 minutes ago," were uttered with a sly smile.? This bird, of course, was worth waiting for.? Even though I grew up in Pennsylvania, where the WTSP is a fixture in many a hedgerow, I was thrilled with a slightly obstructed view of this crisp individual.? A quick glimpse of the natty white-striped helmet with bright yellow visor was
all I got before s/he flitted across the maintenance road and dropped out of sight, but that was enough.
After making the rounds, checking on the Purple Finch (still there,) and fruitlessly searching for more shorebirds, we took one last pass by the big rosebush behind the CUH.? For me, in hopes of some other fabulous sparrow.? For my weary partner, in hopes of finally getting the bug out of my system so we could get some breakfast.? No such luck for either of us.? Here, we remet a foursome of birders whom we had earlier given directions to the white-throat spot.? They had returned with news of another little gem in the same area.
Now, I'm not sure if proper birders' protocol calls for a specified time lapse before one can call "someone else's" bird, but I've seen no report of it yet, so here goes.? Truthfully, I'm mostly just itching to counter Connie's "you should have been here five minutes ago" with "you should have been there an hour later."? Anyway, the report was of some Red Crossbills in the same stretch of Surber.? Of course, I had to drag my starving but understanding partner right back there to look for them.? A quick reconaissance of the pine and fir tops across Surber turned up nothing.? Within a few minutes, though, a flurry of agitated "jit jit jit" calls directly overhead got me on a flock of eight crossbills--another Fill (or almost-Fill) first for me.? They landed in a reasonably visible spot in the tops of 3 or 4 tall firs to the southeast, and gave diagnostic, if not terribly satisfying views to me and the group of birders on bikes.
Now, if the original spotters WERE going to post their finchy find, I apologize for jumping the gun.? I, for one, am just glad that this quick and easy way to get the word out to the entire community exists.? My work will take me far from the Fill this upcoming week, but I'm always hopeful that another spectacular report will force me back there.
How about my long-awaited Garganey this time...