Hey tweets, it was a quiet day at the Fill - that is, until a TURKEY
VULTURE came winging in from the south, soared around the fields at a
height of a mere 30 feet, circled twice, and then floated away. I
didn't even need binoculars to see its beautiful white-tipped bill,
and its beady eyes.

Vultures have an undeserved reputation. They are really quite
gorgeous, majestic even. I remember, though, when we took our kids to
see the raptor show at Woodland Park Zoo and the keepers released
Modoc, the Turkey Vulture. Modoc flew off and refused to return, much
to everyone's chagrin. People in the audience were saying he was too
stupid to know how to come back, but I admired his spirit. So I bought
my husband a Modoc t-shirt. He wore it for years, and every time he
put it on without covering it up with another shirt, he noticed people
would back away from him with a wary expression. Since both John and I
are endowed with more than our fair share of eccentricity, this was
not a new experience, and it took him quite a while to figure out that
the t-shirt was to blame.

Other birds of note today:
? large flock of Mew Gulls
? Brown-headed Cowbird
? Northern Pintail on Main Pond
? several Cinnamon Teals scattered about
? Purple Finch in the alder grove yesterday
? re-found Jeffrey's female Rufous Hummingbird along the treeline of
Sidles Swamp
? American Pipits in the fields - they've been here for about three
days now and tend to be jumpy
? singing Golden-crowned Sparrow still hanging on - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
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