Hey tweets, I haven't been able to get to Montlake Fill very much recently - I've been working hard on creating a book to celebrate Seattle Audubon's Centennial (Society was formed April 17, 1916). But my oldest son just reported four BONAPARTE'S GULLS flying past the kiosk.

For unknown reasons, Bonaparte's populations have declined in King County over the years (see Gene Hunn's discussion in "Birding in Seattle and King County"). They used to sit in rows on the logs out in Union Bay, but when the logs went away, so did they. Now they are seen only in migration at the Fill, and that only rarely. To see four is *highly* unusual.

BTW, Seattle Audubon's Centennial book is due out in mid-October, so you can see the crushing deadline I have. It will be an oral-history book, with "voices" representing the various projects, accomplishments, and programs of Seattle Audubon over the past century. But this book is really not about the past - it's about the future. I want to show how people in the past accomplished the great things they did with regard to conservation, science, and education, and how they just kept getting up when they were knocked down. I hope that their example will inspire us today and people in the future to do the same, and to set our sights on something that at times might seem impossible: preserving nature and saving species.

To all the photographers out there, I'm looking for some hi-res photos to illustrate the four streams of Audubon's major efforts: Conservation (probably a Spotted Owl photo, or Marbled Murrelet in the ancient forest); Science (seabird in Puget Sound maybe? or a bird in winter to illustrate CBC?); Education (baby birds); and Participation (a great flock photo). The photos must be horizontal in format, with a resolution of at least 300 dpi at a finished size of 7x10". No budget to pay anyone, but you would get full credit in the book of course, and a free copy. I think we have some of the most talented nature photographers in the *world* in our community, so I'm hoping for great things.

Also BTW, check out Seattle Audubon's website periodically to see Centennial-related events. It's going to be an exciting year. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com