My comments on BTP's:

1) I still have vivid memories of dawn on the Oroville CA Christmas Bird
Count in 1971. From across the canyon, BTP's came pouring out of a roost in
more numbers than I have ever seen; before I make a fool of myself I should
go back and look as to how many BTP's we counted. However, the point was
that they were wintering in very high numbers in the Sierran foothill oak
woodlands 25 years ago.

2) My mother, who grew up in the Grass Valley CA area, also Sierran
foothills, tells stories about meals of pigeon shot-pie during the
depression. As you put the pie in one corner of your mouth, you spit out the
shot from the other. They were cherry growers and lost a lot of cherries to
the BTP's.

3) My mother now lives in Gig Harbor WA, no oaks in the near vicinity, and
enjoys just watching and listening to the BTP's in her backyard. And yes
they
come down and clean out the food.

Jerry Tangren
<Jerry_Tangren at tfrec.ncw.net>