While watching a pair of Hooded Mergansers and a whirling cluster of Northern Shovelers, Sarah and I kept hearing a high-pitched piping sound that I hadn't registered before. I thought at first that it might be a shorebird but couldn't find one. It took me a while to realize that it was coming from the large flock of Mallards that I had been overlooking in search of "better birds". Male Mallards would lift their bodies from the water, arch their necks, and make the piping sound. I find it humbling how frequently I am puzzled by a common bird doing things I hadn't realized that they did - and also marvelous!

There were lots of American Wigeons, mostly in the bay, along with a pair of swans (Trumpeter?), several male Wood Ducks, a Blue-winged Teal, a number of pairs of Hooded Mergansers, and large, active feeding flocks of Pine Siskins eating catkins, as well as the usual resident birds.

Gary Kelsberg
Seattle
yew dot Warshington dot ee-doo
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