Hey tweets, The Tufted Duck was present again yesterday morning off
East Point, eating mussels as usual. I'll be heading over to the Fill
soon this morning to see if he continues to hang around. I've had
great luck seeing him in the early morning shortly after dawn, before
the eagles get going and before he fills up with mussels and decides
to work off the calories by swimming far out on the lake. Also
present was the Barrow's Goldeneye, giving great looks from the New
Wooden Bridge over University Slough. This bird is not always in the
slough - I think sometimes he must swim around on Main Pond, though I
haven't seen him there. Twice now, though, he has flown over my head
from that direction, making a beeline for the slough. He doesn't seem
to mind the fact that the UW Athletics Dept.'s contractors are pouring
cement mere feet from the slough and pounding away with their pile
driver.

We have had a full contingent of raptors paying visits this week. A
gorgeous Sharp-shinned Hawk flushed from Yesler Swamp and flew over to
Talaris to perch and get harassed by crows. There has been a beautiful
adult Cooper's Hawk at the Fill a lot lately, too, not to mention the
resident juvenile Red-tailed. Ma and Pa Eagle were swooping over a
hapless American Coot yesterday. Ma was doing all the work alone until
Pa came over to give her a helping talon. Between the two of them,
they managed to exhaust the poor coot, and Ma plunged into the water
to grab it, floating momentarily on the surface of the lake like a
giant duck. Then she flew off to the marina to eat her prize; I have
the feeling she did not share with Pa. I still haven't seen a Merlin
yet for the year, but other birders have been lucky with that one. I
did see two Peregrine Falcons in Yesler Swamp the other day, whether
fighting or courting I couldn't determine.

FYI, I've been working on updating my Fill records. You might like to
take a look at the results - I've posted the list on my blog now (www.constancesidles.com
> bird map and records), along with some stunning photos by our
region's *very* talented photographers. Let us not forget to give
these intrepid artists our gratitude for their dedication to produce
work that lets the world see our state's rich array of avian life in
stop-action that the human eye could never see unaided. I know there
are occasions when photographers let their enthusiasm for photos
overwhelm their just-as-great love for birds (such occasions happen to
us birders too!), so it's always good to be reminded that we need to
respect the birds' space above all. But let us also not forget that a
few examples of poor judgment are no reason to let our own dedication
to comity be compromised. We can all learn to do better. I believe
this is a work-in-progress for us as a community, including yours
truly. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
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