Hey tweets, the Fill has been a bit quiet, as spring advances
inexorably but slowly. For some reason, although the pussy willows are
out, the crocuses dot the fields, and green leaves are beginning to
show, spring this year seems less springy than any in my memory.
Perhaps it's because the spring migration at the Fill has gotten off
to such a slow start. Tree Swallows have finally appeared in numbers,
but they were more than two weeks late. Still no Barn Swallows or
other early migrants. It's probably all due to the fact that *no one*
in the birding community has made your annual sacrifice to Moloch,
now, have you? I too have been dilatory, so I guess I shouldn't cast
stones.

On the other hand, nature has a way of turning the seasons, no matter
what we do or don't do, thank goodness. So spring *is* coming. Even
without the birdly migrants, I can see some of the signs. The Bushtits
have begun pairing instead of flocking, and they are actively thinking
about where to build their ginormous nest-socks. Yesterday a pair was
investigating the promising area around Kern's Restoration Pond, a
place where Bushtits nested last year. Large numbers of Red-winged
Blackbird males are claiming their territories and giving me the stink-
eye when I get too close. Brewer's Blackbirds have shown up at the
helipad to look over this year's nest site, namely, the bushes around
the fence which, unfortunately, have been trimmed back poodle-fashion,
maybe too much even for these urbanized birds. We shall see.

In another sign of spring, the plant people are gearing up for another
growing season. The Native Plant Society folks asked me to forward the
following offer to anyone out there who might be interested:

The birding community may be interested:

This year?s WNPS Native Plant Stewardship Program is active and taking
applications now through April 10, 2011 for the 10 week stewardship
training which is provided free for a give back of 100 hours of native
plant steward work. The training is 10 weeks, every Friday, April 29
? July 9, 2011 at Pritchard Beach, Camp Long. Go to www.wnps.org and
click on Native Plant Stewardship Program for information and
application forms.

Thanks, Connie.

Lucy - Sustain biodiversity; garden with native plants.

laweinberg at comcast.net

206-364-8433

- Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
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