To reduce mail volume, I'm going to combine three unrelated topics here.

Mail Volume:
Clearly, some folks are being overwhelmed by the volume of mail on this
great list. As our list owner has indicated in the past, one solution is to
request the DIGEST option. This option combines messages together into
fewer, large messages. On a heavy day (40 messages) I will receive only two
large messages with the digest option. To invoke, send this message:

to: listproc at u.washington.edu
message: set tweeters mail digest

Ptarmigan:
Regarding my long-ago siting of Ptarmigan on Vancouver Island, Bryan
Gates wrote:

"Dave: If you can recall the exact location, please let me know. I'll
check to see where the nearest known nesting habitats are. "

Bryan, the location was on the E side of Vancouver Island, on a logging road
along the south side of Trent River. This is about 4 miles south of
Courtenay, and about 10 mi ESE of Forbidden Plateau (Strathcona Park). The
siting was about 2 or 3 miles west of Hwy 1, the coastal highway.

Also, Andy Stepnewski wrote a very interesting note about Ptarmigan habitat
including mention of Horseshoe Basin in Okanogan Co.. Andy, that area is
one of my burning goals. I tried to go to Horseshoe Basin this past summer,
but I was prevented by the Thunder Mtn fire which broke out just 3 days
before my trip. Next year! There must be some very unique habitat up
there, because there are also some butterflies found there which occur
nowhere else in Washington.

Townsends Warblers:

In a recent issue of WOSNews, as I recall, Dennis Paulson wrote of a
sizeable winter flock of Townsends Warblers which he saw near his office,
and commented on the rarity of large flocks of these warblers at this
season.

Our home near Issaquah, WA, apparently is located in pretty good
Townsends Warbler habitat, as we regularly see these lovely little jewels in
the winter, from about early November through about mid March. Most often,
the birds appear in twos or threes, but we do see large flocks on a
reasonably regular basis, perhaps 3 or 4 times per year . One instance was
this past Saturday, when a flock of 20 + Townsends spent a full hour
flitting about the upper levels of some large Cedars at our front yard. The
next day, Sunday, a flock of about 10 was present in the same area. Have
others seen Townsends Warblers in these larger winter flocks?

Dave Nunnallee
dnun461 at ecy.wa.gov
Bellevue, WA