Date: 10/27/26 11:50 pm From: Constance Sidles via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Montlake Fill today
Hey tweets, Montlake Fill's waterways were really lively today:
• 4 (!) Western Grebes in the water off the crewhouse at Conibear. I can't remember ever seeing so many Western Grebes at the Fill at once. There have been two grebes present at this location for some days now; joined by a third grebe a couple of days ago, and now this. Extraordinary.
• The coots and ducks are back: 2 gigantic rafts were out on the lake today, numbering in the thousands, I estimate.
• Wood Ducks are in breeding plumage, and so are at least some of the male Mallards. Other male Mallards still have a ways to go. I always feel for these males, as they must race to get handsome enough to attract a female for the breeding season to come, and yet they must also be aware of their vulnerability to predators because of being conspicuous. What a choice.
• Two large flocks of finches were foraging in the conifers at the marina today. I tried to make them into crossbills, given reports of a crossbill eruption in western WA, but I believe instead they were Pine Siskins - they were so high up in the canopy, so active, and generally so silent it was hard to be sure.
• It looks like the chafer beetle larvae are at it again. Vast areas of turf are chopped up and brown, like some gigantic aerator has been at work. The crows are in heaven, turning over divots of grass killed by the beetles and finding untold thousands - probably millions - of insects to eat. This, at a time of year when other food sources might be more scarce. It makes me wonder if this bonanza of food will allow the crow population to burgeon even more than it already has.
• Barred Owls have been calling in my neighborhood (I live close to the Fill), a truly wild and hauntng chorus to listen to in the middle of the night. We live on a beautiful planet. - Connie, Seattle
