Hey tweets, I couldn't resist an early-morning jaunt to the Fill, despite the fact that I'm supposed to take my daughter in for eye surgery today. I figured I could just about make it half-way around the Loop Trail in the two hours of daylight I got this morning before I simply had to be back home.

I'm so glad I went! On Main Pond was a Western Sandpiper still in breeding plumage. I came upon this bird just as the sun came out from behind the clouds and lit up its feathers like glowing embers. Overhead, a troupe of Violet-green Swallows were joined by two BLACK SWIFTS. Whenever I see these birds at the Fill, they always seem to pop up out of an invisible black hole, not here one second, then poof! here. They drifted with the swallows until a Merlin came rocketing through, then they floated off east, perhaps back to the foothills.

Meanwhile, the Merlin took itself off to Foster Island, and all the other birds came out of hiding. There are hordes of finches, large numbers of Cedar Waxwings (with juveniles), and Common Yellowthroats still singing, though the males look pretty raggedy. A glorious morning.

Here is a poem for you today:

Tiny traveler from the tundra,
you look so weak,
but your russet wings are strong.
They will carry you far,
far away where I cannot follow.

--Connie, Seattle

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