Birds Again (and Dogs Again)

On Saturday morning I popped down to the Montlake Fill with His Adorableness (AKA Hairy Truman) to see if we could spot some birds.

The first bird we spotted was rather nice -- an eagle with nesting material:

Then we had our best spot of the day -- not a bird, but a birder.  Connie is back!  She used to visit the Fill nearly every day, but took a year+ hiatus to work on the Seattle Audubon centennial book.  She's now busy documenting shorebirds and other waterfowl at the Fill on a weekly basis, with the help of Lewis, a 16-year-old who is the youngest person ever admitted to the Master Birder program.  Great kid.

We walked around together, looking at the few remaining winter waterfowl way out on the lake, and watching the first swallows of the season swoop overhead.  We had a swell time.

The only other bird I got good photos of were of two Anna's Hummingbirds -- this male flashing its iridescent colors:

And this female on a nest:

Later that same day, we went on a walk with Michelle and Winston at Golden Gardens park:

I spotted a Horned Grebe on the Sound:

But mostly I did not watch birds, and watched happy dachshunds instead.

At the very end of the walk, I did get a bonus bird -- this lovely male Red-breasted Merganser:

It was busy looking for lunch:

Now the cold gray rainy weather has returned with no let-up in sight.  Back to the indoor sketching practice!