Hey tweets, we went from winter to summer all in one day today at the
Fill, just as we did yesterday and the day before. If this kind of
accelerated seasonal timeclock keeps up, I'm going to reach 100 much
much sooner than I ever dreamed possible.

In the winter part of today, 6-10 Brewer's Blackbirds were examining
their digs at the helipad. The bushes have been trimmed down to nearly
nubs and half the grass field has been converted into a track, but the
blackbirds don't seem to care. Fussy is apparently not in their lexicon.

Still winter, and the IMA field north of Clark was filled with gulls:
a lot of Mew Gulls, numerous Ring-billed, a few Glaucous-winged, and
two Californias.

It was spring by the time I got to the Dime Lot, a fact advertised by
considerable flocks of Violet-green Swallows and one GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, who managed to perch somehow on the itty-bitty remnant of
the mud island in the middle of the Lagoon that is fast disappearing
as lake levels rise beyond anything I've seen before. The shorebird's
overall ecological footprint was luckily much smaller than its body,
so it did manage to fit itself onto a patch of mud about the size of
my ink-jet printer. But it couldn't have been a comfortable perch, and
the bird soon took to the sky and winged its way over my head, flying
toward Shoveler's Pond.

Later on in the spring, Doug Parrot and I heard the distinctive
calling of a PILEATED WOODPECKER as it flew in from the west and
landed in Sidles Swamp (and no, I am not responsible for the name of
this place!). We could hear him as he moved from pillar to post
through the dense trees, then Doug managed to locate him as he flew up
into one of the taller cottonwoods. A beautiful male with his head on
fire. There was just enough sunlight through cloud to make his white-
patched wings look translucent when he flew off to Yesler Swamp. I
have been seeing a female Pileated in Yesler Swamp for a few weeks
now, so maybe good things are in store.

Summer arrived when I made it to Hunn Meadow West, where a gorgeous
female AMERICAN KESTREL appeared, driving the goldfinches before her.
She perched at the top of the Triple Tree in Hunn Meadow East (the 3-
trunked cottonwood tree in the middle of the field) for quite a while,
flicking her tail and generally looking beautiful. I was in awe of
her, but the other birds were not. Two Northern Flickers landed almost
within pecking distance, and soon a Black-capped Chickadee joined the
club, followed by other small birds who did not seem at all worried
that a fierce predator was so close. Finally a crow showed up and
chased the kestrel away.

Soon after that, the snow clouds moved back in, and everything grew
dim and gray. I couldn't figure out whether the Savannah Sparrow that
popped up out of the brambles in the field was planning on
overwintering or had come for spring and gotten fooled. We've all been
mix-mastered by this weather, haven't we? - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
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