Subject: [Tweeters] Yesler Swamp meeting
Date: Sep 12 13:05:51 2011
From: Connie Sidles - constancesidles at gmail.com
Hey tweets, just a reminder that a community meeting will take place
at CUH tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. to unveil the current planning for
the Yesler Swamp boardwalk and invasive plant mitigation project.
Yesler Swamp, btw, is the easternmost part of Montlake Fill.
In other news, the CUH has acquired the rights to the Dime Lot
(parking lot E-5), which is the westernmost part of the Montlake Fill.
As I understand it, the CUH hopes to convert most of this parking lot
into a brand-new wetlands. So hurrah! I will try to find out more
details and pass them along to you.
The Fill has been a bit quiet lately, although birds are coming
through. Yesterday the Alder Grove (the grove of trees southwest of
the kiosk, extending north to Leaky Pond) was especially lively. There
were:
Black-headed Grosbeak (beautiful juvenile)
Warbling Vireos
Yellow Warblers
Orange-crowned Warblers
Western Tanagers (I think mostly juveniles; didn't see any red heads).
A quartet of Band-tailed Pigeons flew by in formation as I sat below,
my preferred version of the Blue Angels (who also fly by right
overhead; once so low to the ground one of the pilots smiled at me; in
my memory, his plane blew my hair straight back, but I think this
might be my neurons puffing up the story, kind of like they would if I
ever caught a fish - you know, epic battle, monster fish, tiny rod and
reel).
Down at East Point, two Virginia Rails were yelling at each other.
Neither one would come out into the open, so I couldn't tell exactly
how close to the trail they were, but the decibels were amazing. Also
in the grove there was a Brown Creeper. I would advise everyone to
stand a while in this grove and listen for the creepers' high-pitched
song. A family of them bred in one of the cottonwood snags here this
past summer, and I suspect they will often come back to the old
homestead to hunt for bugs. I will certainly look for new nesting
activity this coming spring.