Hi, Tweeters,

Attempting to see some of the birds Connie Sidles described
yesterday at the Montlake Fill, Bill and I headed there this afternoon and
spent two hours between 3 and 5 pm wandering around. It's always
interesting to me how much the bird population changes at the Fill from one
day to the next. Most of the birds Connie mentioned yesterday-the Least
Sandpipers, the Spotted Sandpipers, which have been at the Main Pond for
weeds, the vireos, empids and warblers-were no where to be seen. However,
we had an enjoyable outing, because there were other birds to amuse us.

At the Main Pond we did see the Long-billed Dowitcher and, in
addition, there were two beautiful juvenile Western Sandpipers. We also saw
a Northern Harrier (sorry, I couldn't tell if it was a juvenile or adult)
and a very impressive Osprey. In the Southwest Pond there was an adult
Cinnamon Teal, and as we pondered this bird several of what we assume were
juvenile Cinnamon Teal flew in and landed nearby. We did see quite a few
swallows and at one point Vaux's swifts in among them. Oh, and we saw one
garter snake. And quite a few green things are sprouting up through the
burned area. All in all a pleasant way to spend two hours.

Charlotte Byers, Seattle