Wes Jansen and Burt Guttman have asked the exact whereabouts of the
RED CROSSBILLS in Point Defiance Park, Tacoma.

Drive to the Native Garden near the park exit. (It's uphill and west
of the big duck pond that you see when you enter the main park gate.)
At the Native Garden, walk northward uphill (roughly 30 yards) past the
main cascade and picnic table. You'll find a small, shallow trickle
running for about 10 yards over gravel. (The park department turns
this trickle on in May and keeps it on until about October.)

Now be patient. The RED CROSSBILLS have come down every day--sometimes
several times a day--to bathe and drink. I'm often there in the
morning between 7:30 and 10:30 am, and they have never failed to
show up. Last year they stayed around until October.

This little trickle is also an excellent place to watch for most
of the other small birds in the park. Most of them come down here
to refresh themselves. For example, as I look back over my notes for
7/23, when I spent an hour and a half sitting beside the trickle (and
snapping photographs), I see that a whole rush of small birds filtered
down, including a male WESTERN TANAGER, a female RUFUS HUMMINGBIRD,
a HUTTON'S VIREO, several CEDAR WAXWINGS, a WILSON'S WARBLER,
a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, A WILLOW FLYCATCHER, a PURPLE FINCH,
lots of PINE SISKINS, BUSHTITS, and CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, and more.

--Jim Lyles (jrlyles at fs01dwatcm.wr.usgs.gov)
in north Tacoma 98403