Hey tweets, just wanted to let you know that BirdWatching Magazine's sister publication, Outdoor Photographer, is holding a photo contest with prizes. If you haven't heard about it and are interested, email me off-list, and I will be glad to forward the contest details to you.

I haven't been to the Fill since the ashfall began - no use trying to see through the kind of eyes my allergies are producing, and my wheezing and coughing would scare away a moa-sized bird, never mind the little guys who are streaming through now.

However, right before the east winds brought us these conditions, there were substantial numbers of warblers coming through the Fill: 50-100 Yellow Warblers in one grove alone, along with Black-throated Grays, one Nashville, and some Common Yellowthroats. No Orange-crowned, oddly. We're also getting juvenile shorebirds: Leasts, Westerns, and Long-billed Dowitchers. And of course, the empids: Willow and Pacific-Slope, and some Warbling Vireos too. The trees were so filled with birds that when I tried to track one warbler, another would fill my field of view before I knew it. Reminded me of trying to find my husband at Bumbershoot. Every time I'd see a tall guy with white hair, it would turn out to be another guy in my field of view. I tried making our special call ("JOHN, where the heck are you???"), rather like the Emperor Penguins do when they come back to their nesting grounds with fish. But everyone else was calling too. I'm still mystified how the penguins manage, especially given that their field marks are not very distinctive. At least John wears a bow tie. - Connie, Seattle

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