Hey tweets, Amid the arctic ice floes that filled Main Pond (or will
soon, if this cold summer continues much longer) was a male BLUE-
WINGED TEAL this morning. He made me wonder if he's staying the summer
to breed here. He was with a female the other day. Also on Main Pond,
a mother Cinnamon Teal with four babies. The Cinnamon Teals are
bursting the seams of the ponds this year - they seem to be in every
available pool of water, even the puddle that has seeped out of the
east end of SW Pond.

Meanwhile, BLACK SWIFTS came down from the Cascade foothills to get
away from the foul weather up there and pick up a few insects down
here. They are among my most favorite birds. One in particular was
wheeling fairly low over the tops of the alder trees in the grove near
the kiosk.

Also present in that grove was a FOY OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER,
accompanied by a Western Wood-Pewee. On Main Pond was a Willow
Flycatcher. I'm so glad to see these little guys from the tropics. It
made the cold a little easier to withstand.

A Mourning Dove has been hanging out at the Fill lately as well. I see
it now and then. Today it was perched in the willow snag at the north
end of Main Pond. Other times, it's been foraging along the service
road that parallels University Slough (on weekends, when the
construction workers aren't around), or along the road that leads into
the Dime Lot.

A great day, but then isn't that true for every day, when you can
spend part of birding? - Connie