Hey tweets, I checked my records of Barrow's Goldeneye appearances at
the Fill after I got home yesterday. I discovered this is the fifth
sighting in 117 years, not the second, as I had thought. My apologies.
I was going by memory out in the field and knew that I at least had
never seen this species at the Fill in nearly 30 years of birding
here. I had Barrow's envy.

In any case, this bird was terrific. He kept diving and paddling so
close, I could even see the circle of bubbles he created when he dove,
and every bead of water on his back when he popped up again. It's one
of the many reasons I love the Fill so much: it often gives us close-
up views of birds. I think we have the joggers thank for this. There
are tons more joggers at the Fill every day than birders, and so the
birds get used to the sight of human beings in general, but also
humans who pass by with nothing but a slight breeze to mark their
passage.

Newcomer birds may get alarmed at first by all humans, but they soon
begin to notice that the regulars are totally ho-hum when a person
shows up. In the slough yesterday, for example, were several Mallards
who showed no interest whatsoever in the people along Canal Road (the
road paralleling University Slough on the west side). I'm sure if the
Mallards had flown, so too would the Barrow's Goldeneye, especially
when a dog lady showed up and simply could not be made to understand
that she should keep her dog far away from the edge of the slough.
Luckily the Mallards were as indifferent to the dog as they were to
the people, so the Barrow's merely paddled away a short distance. Next
time, instead of explaining how rare a bird like this is, I will have
to come up with a more effective speech. Appeals to altruism (as in,
let's make sure this duck stays here so other birders can see it; or
let's not frighten off this bird because why would you want to
frighten any animal?) were only marginally effective. I'm thinking of
saying that xx bird is a rare visitor from outside our galaxy and it's
eye-beams have the power to make hair fall out. It wouldn't be too far
from the truth. The Barrow's Goldeneye did seem like a visitor from
some other dimension to me, he was so outrageously beautiful, and his
eye-beams did make my hair stand on end at least. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com


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