Hey tweets, early this morning, in answer to a thread started
yesterday, I posted some info about winter swallows I have seen at the
Fill over the years. I mentioned that the only ones I have records of
are Barn Swallows.

Well, bejabbers - what did I see at the Fill later today but a lone
Barn Swallow swooping over the lagoon to take a drink. This leads me
to suggest that perhaps we should start a smew thread on tweeters, or
perhaps a Eurasian Hobby thread? I'm not a great believer in magical
thinking, but as Gene Wilder says in "Young Frankenstein, "It
cooouuulllldddd work!"

All kidding aside, it was a great day at the Fill, so peaceful and
beautiful that it was almost impossible to tear myself away. I think I
did leave a little piece of my heart behind. In addition to the
swallow, which was like seeing a preview of spring in the dead of
winter, there were many other gorgeous birds. Seven Trumpeter Swans
were precessing on the bay, along with three immatures. A Ruddy Duck
has been hanging out on the Main Pond for the past several weeks. The
ginormous rafts of ducks on the lake yielded numerous Canvasbacks,
Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneyes,
and too many American Wigeons, Buffleheads, and American Coots to count.

The fields are recovered from the arctic blasts of last month, and the
regulars are beginning to behave regularly again. Song and Lincoln's
Sparrows are back, as are much bigger numbers of White-crowned
Sparrows. One of the two Western Meadowlarks that are often seen in
the field near the Main Pond burst out of said field and perched on a
little fence post. Its bright yellow front outshone the sun trying to
break through the fog.

A Cooper's Hawk has settled in at Surber on the north end, but the
south end of that little grove is very lively nonetheless. Today there
were Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets there, Spotted Towhee,
Dark-eyed Juncos, Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows, and a
very active male Downy Woodpecker. The neighbors told me they love
this little guy and can hardly wait for him to start his nest again. I
just had to roll my eyes - if I were a Cooper's, I'd think this
oblivious woodpecker was just asking to be the main entree of my day.
Meanwhile, Ma and Pa Eagle are very busy adding sticks to their nest -
it won't be long now until Ma lays an egg or two. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com