Did I ever share with you all the time I saw a Bushtit stoop on, kill, and
devour a 1-mm insect egg within a few inches of my face? It was awesome.

Remember, virtually all birds are predators (defined as "eating other animals").

This is another in my unending series of pleas to lighten up a little on
falconocentrism, which seems to be particularly acute in this region. But
don't despair, passerinophiles. My Bushtit Research Bunch will be
attempting to capture and color band Marvin this weekend. Marvin, as you
know, is the tercel Bushtit who has been hunting the Thornton Creek drainage
this winter. We have been locating him by his characteristic mutes, and as
soon as our engineers perfect their microminimicrominitransmitter, we'll
trap him again and backpack him to be able to monitor his movements
henceforth, perhaps even tracking him back to his unknown breeding site and
finding his eyasslets.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416


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I want to sign up -- sometimes I feel I should be embarrassed that my
main interest is NOT raptors -- but I get ecstatic over the passerines --
especially the seasonal migrants. Bluebirds make me rapturous, and
orioles, well, what can I say...


Karen Juenemann at SMTPGATE-ZGI