156 Union Bay 



into our area? Was its roaming in any way connected with 

 storms, or with some failure in the bird's directional mecha- 

 nism? Would a bird which started to wander continue the 

 next year and during the remainder of its life? Someday I 

 hope to meet a person who can give me the answers. 



Other birds from the east side of the Cascades eventually 

 added their name to our register. The black-crowned night 

 heron, a sturdy edition of the herons, is chicken-size, rather 

 long legged, and mostly gray in color. It is fairly common 

 around eastern Washington marshes, but is so rare on Puget 

 Sound that its name has only recently appeared on the local 

 check lists, and I have seen it but twice in our.area. The day 

 of the first visit was not particularly appropriate, for sunshine 

 and a football game had brought a capacity crowd to the 

 stadium and their cars were parked right to the banks of 

 Canoehouse Bay. I saw the heron on an old float less than 

 half a block awav from all the din and confusion of the 

 parking. It stood motionless, apparently tired from a long 

 flight, and regarded my close approach with indifference. 

 A green heron, equally apathetic, stood close by it. The 

 black-crowned was not a new bird to me. I had seen its 

 yellow legs, white forehead, black crown and bill, and dumpy 

 body many times before. I had observed it in eastern Wash- 

 ington, in the Middle West, and in the East had watched 

 its after-sunset flights from the nesting grounds to its feeding 

 areas along the low banks of a stream or in marshy ponds. 

 But I had never before come within two canoe lengths of 

 one. It did not move a foot from the place where it first stood. 

 I have seen other newcomers almost as quiet, and I have 

 often wondered if the complete inaction and lack of fear is 

 due to fatigue or whether there is a more likely explanation. 

 I left and made a trip around the marsh only to find it in the 

 same place when I returned. I could not find it two days later. 



Another type of visitor which has been on our marsh 

 register only one time is the buff-breasted sandpiper, a rare 



