Hey tweets, many, many thanks to all of you who responded to my
question about the Peasely Canyon heronry. What a supportive
community! I am sorry to report, though, that the consensus is that
that heronry has been totally abandoned for many years now, and the
site is now not birded much - if at all - because of heavy traffic
noise. Eagle predation was to blame for the herons leaving the site.

There is a new little heronry trying its best to grow on the UW campus
near the fountain, away from the eagles. The Fill hosted a heronry
many years ago in the trees of the swamp, until the eagles moved in.
The herons moved their site to Battelle (now Talaris) but were forced
out from there too. (This is where the eagles now have their own
nest.) I hope the fountain site is far enough away from the eagles'
main hunting territory, Union Bay, so the herons can raise their young
in peace.

The Great Blues are starting to gather at the Fill again. Last year,
we had more than 20 of them standing around in the ponds and on top of
the buildings. Today they were back in small numbers, but I expect
those numbers to grow as spring approaches. The ones who showed up
today (there were 4) looked spiffy with their long plumes hanging down
and blowing in the breeze.

Also on view at the Fill today:
A Merlin came rocketing past me at Paulson Prairie, disappeared behind
Corporation Yard Pond for a few seconds, and reappeared clutching a
small bird in its talons. The Fill stayed pretty quiet for a time
after this harrowing event and then slowly came back to life. Two Fox
Sparrows came out into the open at the Wedding Rock and began
scratching through the leaf litter, along with numerous Golden-crowns
and Song Sparrows. The Spotted Towhee who lives in the bushes here was
too intimidated to come out, but it finally found the courage to "mew"
a few times. A flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets began to forage in
those same bushes, their golden crowns very bright indeed in the gray
light and the few snowflakes tumbling down. The two Western Scrub-Jays
who have settled in for the winter (and maybe for good) finally
rematerialized from whatever extra dimension they go to when they want
to disappear from view. Honestly, you wouldn't think such a big,
bright bird could hide very effectively among the bare branches of the
cottonwoods, but I've seen them sort of shimmer behind a twig and then
just be gone. Jeeves (the fictional butler par excellence) had that
same ability.

Finally, we've had two Ruddy Ducks hanging around for some days now: a
male who frequents Main Pond, and a female who prefers the Cove. I
hope they stick around long enough to change into breeding plumage.
There is no blue quite so blue as the blue of a Ruddy Duck's bill.-
Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
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