Hey tweets, dodging the rain clouds today, I walked all of the Fill
except the Corporation Yard area. That's a lot for me! I kept telling
myself, "I'll stay until the rain comes back," but it didn't quite,
and so I kept staying and staying. I think almost everyone else in the
neighborhood thought the rain would start up any second, too, so they
stayed home. I had the place almost entirely to myself - except for
the birds.

Things started out slowly at Surber, which usually means a raptor in
the neighborhood. Sure enough, within a few minutes, an intrepid
Anna's Hummingbird outed a Cooper's Hawk hanging out around the feeder
at the south end of the swamp. I thought I had seen the last of this
guy, as his tail disappeared over the horizon, bombarded by pecks from
the pursuing hummingbird, but a while later, the Cooper's ensconced
itself in a snag right next to my parked car. There is another feeding
station here, and that's evidently what had attracted the Cooper's. It
was patiently watching for its chance when I arrived at the snag, cold
and tired. I was ready to get back in my car and turn on the heater,
but the hawk was not ready to leave. It was a standoff. I didn't want
to disturb the hawk, and the hawk didn't want to move. After 10
miinutes of me slowly congealing in place, I noticed the Cooper's had
lowered its head feathers, so I took a chance and oozed slowly over to
my car, opened the door, got in and drove off. I was almost within
touching distance of the Cooper's, who didn't stir a feather. I have
never seen such an insouciant accipitor.

But I was in for even more surprises. Out on the lake, the coots and
wigeons were balled up tightly, a result of the Bald Eagle pair flying
by looking for haplessness. As I scanned through the flock, hoping for
a rare duck, I saw a DUNLIN fly into the flock and perch briefly on a
coot's back. This proved to be unsatisfactory to both, so the Dunlin
left to find another perch on the mud island that has recently emerged
from beneath the waves like Atlantis rising from the depths.

A little later, two Belted Kingfishers arrived from the marina near
the Cut, a favorite hangout for them. The two were a male and a
female, and they proceeded to execute a courtship dance in the sky
that lasted for at least an hour without pause. It might still be
going on except another male showed up and cut in. The males became
totally involved with each other, chasing and scolding and one-upping
themselves, until the female finally flew off, complaining the whole
way. The males didn't notice, which probably irritated the female even
more. I'm very fond of this female. She's the same bird (I think) who
turned the tables on a Cooper's Hawk one day and ended up chasing the
poor guy off by pecking him painfully in the rear and calling out
insults the whole time. I admire both her feistiness and her mouthiness.

Also on view today:
Canada Geese (oddly absent for the past few days)
COMMON TEAL still present (on Main Pond this time; in University
Slough a few days ago)
Greater Scaup on the lake
Common Merganser on the lake
Western Scrub-jays continue at the Wedding Rock - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
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