Hey tweets, I hope you can come to my book reading tonight at the
Center for Urban Horticulture from 7-8:30 p.m. I will read from my
new book about the Fill, "Second Nature: Tales from the Montlake
Fill." The event is co-sponsored by Seattle Audubon and UW Botanic
Gardens. For details, check out Seattle Audubon's website.

Speaking of tales from the Montlake Fill, here is a confection for you:

The four baby Trumpeter Swans reported earlier have been coming back
regularly. I guess you'd have to say they aren't technically babies
anymore. They're as big as their parents. But anyone who has had
teenage daughters or sons knows that technicalities aside, these guys
are still pretty childlike, and they have a lot to learn.

We seem to be developing a stable winter population of swans here.
This rather impressive population dates from the heavy snows of winter
we had four seasons ago, when the swans of the Skagit were driven to
the Lake Washington in search of food. Eleven stayed at the Fill all
winter. Of these, three were juveniles (they were gray). These
juveniles were special to me and to many others of us regulars. The
swans always stayed close together, and often they would reach out and
touch each other gently with their bills.

When they left us in the spring, I wasn't sure they would ever come
back. Kids don't always, you know. I couldn't help but hope, though,
as winter approached. Sure enough, one day in December three white
swans appeared in Waterlily Cove. I'm convinced they were "our" swans
because they always stayed close together, and often they would reach
out and touch each other gently with their bills.

Spring arrived again, and our swans left once more. When the following
November rolled around, I started hoping and looking again. No swans.
I went out every day that winter, searching in vain. Then on Jan. 1,
two white swans flew into the Cove. "They're baaa," I started to yell,
and then my voice was cut off by wonder. Four more flew in and joined
the first two. After they had fluffed out their feathers, three of the
adults left the flock, paddled close together, floated quietly near
each other, and then reached out and touched each other gently with
their bills. Our babies were back, and they had brought their spouses!

You can imagine what I have been hoping for this winter: I wanted to
see our swans come back, and with their own babies in tow. Last week,
I finally saw the four juveniles other birders have been reporting.
"I'm a grandma!" I yelled, without thinking. A couple walking their
baby nearby smiled indulgently at me and called out, "Congratulations,
Gramma." I didn't say a single explanatory word. I do plan, however,
to get some pictures to carry around in my wallet. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com







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