Hey tweets, The Fill was spectacularly beautiful today in the early
morning clouds. Then the sun came out and gilded every living thing -
it was breath-taking.

On Shoveler's Pond, there is a gorgeous - and surprisingly calm -
LESSER YELLOWLEGS, feeding and sleeping. You should have good luck
finding it as long as I don't accompany you. The Killdeers have taken
a dislike to me, for unknown reasons. I've never done a *thing* to
them, and yet they start their alarms as soon as they see me. This,
despite the fact that they have seen me a thousand times before. They
don't call when a spectator dressed in fire-engine red appears. They
don't call when a dog-walker appears. They don't call when five little
kids gambol nearby. But all I have to do is creep by with eyes averted
and tail feathers drooping in the most non-threatening manner, and off
go the alarms. It's highly annoying.

At East Point is a mother Gadwall with newly hatched chicks. Yesterday
they were clustered around her so tightly - like an Easter basket -
that I couldn't count them all. I think there were 11. Today there are
7. A baby Pied-billed Grebe hatched out mere hours ago this morning,
on the Southwest Pond. Willow Flycatchers are rapping (not singing!)
on the dead willow at the Main Pond, along Douglas Road, and in the
field behind the greenhouses. Two Ospreys came fishing right over my
head. One looked down at me as it passed by, then spread its tail in
the sunlight so I could see right through it. Birding just doesn't get
any better than this. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com