Subject: [Tweeters] More Montlake Fill birds!
Date: Feb 15 11:20:06 2009
From: Evan Houston - evanghouston at yahoo.com


Hi Tweets,

I birded the Fill yesterday morning for several hours, and then again at and after dusk. I found no notable rarities, but I did have an enjoyable time finding a surprising number of birds for the location and time of year - 60 species!

The top highlight was a scope view of a blob that looked interesting and turned out to be a briefly perched Merlin. After consulting my field guide and Marv Breece's great collection of Merlin photos, I believe it was of the Taiga, not Pacific subspecies, as it had a noticeable supercilium, and it was lighter overall than Pacific, especially on the breast, which showed rusty streaks on a whitish background.

Other raptors seemed to have Valentine's Day in mind, as the Bald Eagles off Mary Gates Way were stick-gathering and resting together at their nest, and 2 Red-tails, including 1 that looks to be a rufous morph, were cooperatively associating nearby - I wonder if they are thinking of nesting in the area?

There was a fair amount of singing, with the highlight being the Western Meadowlark belting forth near the central pond - the first time I've had the pleasure of hearing its song at the Fill.

Waterbirds were in their typical winter-at-the-Fill amazing abundance, including several Common Goldeneye, Wood Duck, Northern Pintail, Redhead, and many Canvasback. Way out on the lake, I scoped 1 each Horned Grebe and Red-necked Grebe. I only caught a brief glimpse of the lingering Trumpeter Swans in flight, couldn't find any Eurasian Wigeon, and the Scaup were frustrating in their constant diving and goodly distance from shore - most were Lesser, but I'm pretty sure at least a couple mildly cooperative ones were Greater.

Shorebirds have not been in great evidence at the Fill recently, at least during the day. However, I have gone around the main loop at dusk/after dusk recently, including last night, and each time I have heard up to half a dozen Killdeer calling, and I have also been startled by the harsh calls of 1-4 Wilson's Snipe flushing.

A final exciting-wildlife-in-the-heart-of-the-city anecdote: At one point several enthusiastic, but not (yet?) dedicated nature enthusiasts asked what me and another gentleman had our scopes trained on out on the lake. They excitedly hopped from one scope, which had a Bald Eagle devouring an American Coot, to the other, which had a pair of River Otters!

Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA

P.S. Marv Breece's collection is at:
http://www.pbase.com/marvbreece/merlins_of_washington