The Birds are Back!

Well, truth to tell, the birds didn't go anywhere at all--at least, not the resident birds at the Montlake Fill.  But I haven't been posting as many photos of them for some time now, because the cheap camera I bought to replace the more expensive one that I broke a year ago just didn't take good bird pics.

Luckily (I guess), the cheap camera broke two weeks ago, and this time I replaced it with the more expensive one I had before.  And the first thing I did was take it down to the Fill.

There's a weekly shorebird count there that I often participate in, which usually means counting Killdeer (our only resident shorebird) and nothing else.  But this past Saturday, we got an actual non-Killdeer shorebird -- this little Least Sandpiper:

The Fill used to be a great place to see shorebirds during their migrations, with lovely muddy shores around the central pond for them to stop over at, but invasive plants have filled it in and we see very few of them anymore.

We also have resident Wood Ducks who were busy breeding this summer:

And there are resident Belted Kingfishers around.

And resident bird dogs:

Our best find of the day was this Green Heron, fishing for its breakfast.  The lighting was poor, and the bird was fairly far away--my old cheap camera would have taken blurry pics and I would have given up in frustration.  As always, you get what you pay for.

So I'm pleased to have a decent camera again, and I am going to try harder this time to keep it functioning properly.  I might even use the camera case.

On Sunday I took the Hounds to a fundraiser event for a local rescue group called Old Dog Haven, which as you may surmise, specializes in finding permanent foster homes for aged, unadoptable canines.   They had lots of activities, including dachshund races!

Truman and Pippin did not race -- for one thing, I didn't have a helper along, and for another, I'm pretty sure Truman would have just freaked out over the whole thing, while Pippin would have most likely run right over to the other dogs to sniff their butts.

We did know one of the entrants, who sadly came in last.  Here are the Wiener Winners:

Truman and Pippin were content to watch from the sidelines.

I'm not sure if I'll get anything done this coming week -- once again, the forecast calls for full sunshine and 85-90 degrees for the entire week.  I may spend it all camped out in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store.

I leave you with two short dachshund racing clips -- enjoy!