Subject: [Tweeters] More Fill
Date: Jul 31 09:33:35 2009
From: Connie Sidles - constancesidles at gmail.com


Hey tweets, walking through the Fill this morning, I felt even more
grateful that the fire wasn't as bad as it could have been. I think
it must have been slow-moving, allowing the firefighters to arrive
before too much went up in flames. I ran into two women today who had
called 911 when they saw billowing smoke. They weren't the first to
call, but I thanked them anyway. The more people who care about places
like this, the better.

James West expressed concern about the Hooded Ladies Tresses orchids
that are in bloom now. More plants may have escaped than we initially
thought. The prairie immediately east of the Main Pond did not catch
fire, at least for a little distance. That area is home to many
orchids, and they seemed fine this morning.

The Lone Pine Tree, on the other hand, looks worse. It seems
completely burned from top to bottom. I thought some needles were
still green, but that does not appear to be the case. The plastic
protectors around the Garry Oak saplings nearby melted, but the
saplings inside may be okay - at least some of them anyway. The
cottonwoods that overhang the Loop Trail north of East Point got more
singed that I had realized. I could see "cooked" leaves all the way up
to the highest branches on the side of the grove that faced the fire.
That's got to be more than 60 feet high.

The birds who hang out on the Main Pond seemed totally unaffected.
This morning, two Green Herons chased each other from point to point,
causing three Great Blues to get cranky. The two Spotted Sandpipers
that have been here for some days now were out in full view, foraging
without being bothered by human presence. Two migrating Least
Sandpipers were a lot jumpier. They spent quite a bit of their time
running through a routine that started with cheeping, then crouching
and freezing, then more cheeping, followed by flying and calling, then
returning to Point A and starting all over again. Meanwhile, two
Bewick's Wrens got into a serious wren fight at the north end. I've
never seen anything like it. At one point, one wren had the other one
pinned down in the dirt and seemed to be trying to peck it in the
throat. Either that, or it was a mom who was just determined to make
baby eat its vegetables, even if she had to hold him down to do it.
Eventually, the two retreated into their separate corners and yelled
at each other.

It was great to be out there, especially with gray clouds overhead. -
Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com