Hey tweets, I shared the morning with a Lesser Yellowlegs on Main Pond
today, along with the Long-billed Dowitcher who has been here for 3
days. It is the first (and so far only) Lesser Yellowlegs of the year.
For a yellowlegs, it was a fairly calm guy, though not as still as the
Mallards who were asleep nearby (or possibly stuffed - they didn't
twitch a feather, so it was hard to say - reminded me of the time
early in my birding career when I found myself marveling at the
incredible stillness of a flock of such ducks out on a rural pond in
the middle of nowhere, until I realized they were carved wooded decoys
left by some hunter).

Also present today: a Yellow Warbler on Main Pond (an early migrant
perhaps? I don't think any bred here this year); a Merlin who rocketed
through Hunn Meadow West and then East at something approaching Mach
10; an early Green-winged Teal on Main Pond; and at least 3 baby
Virginia Rails near the Turtle Logs and another batch in SW Pond.

It's been a pretty good fall shorebird migration so far this year, at
least in terms of diversity. We're getting something new nearly every
day, though the numbers are miniscule. Our mud looks good, due to the
wet spring and early summer, though I could certainly wish we had a
*lot* more of it. Shoveler's Pond still has water in it (unusually
so), enough to harbor a mother Cinnamon Teal and her 6 chicks. But
this won't last much longer. The hot weather we're getting now is
rapidly drying out this vernal pond. We should continue to check the
reeds in Shoveler's Pond for shorebirds for the next week or two;
after that, Main Pond and the lily pads in the lake will be the main
places to check.

To the best of my knowledge, there have been 143 species seen at the
Fill so far this year. I have seen 134. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
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