At 11:34 AM 12/27/96 -0800, Dan Victor wrote:

>Are any of you having unusual 'yard' experiences with the winter storm?

In my yard just south of Olympia (Glenmore subdivision near Yelm Highway and
Boulevard
Road), two *Varied Thrushes* have become nearly constant inhabitants since
the ice came to coat every tree and shrub.

I still have a *White-throated Sparrow* come by to eat every day. It has to
be the same one that hung around last winter and well into Spring.

The usual birds at my feeder are *Juncos*, *Pine Siskins*, *Song Sparrows*,
*Spotted Towhees*, and *Steller's Jays*. *House Finches* are more irregular
and a small group of *Evening Grosbeaks* were coming around over
Thanksgiving but have not shown at all lately.

A *Kestrel* came by on Christmas Eve day (very unusual in my neighborhood).
Didn't stick around. Perched briefly on the top of an ornamental tree, then
flew away.

I also have had two *Northern Flickers* excavating my attic vents. One of
the two sits on the gutter and peers over the edge at the other while it
pecks away, enlarging the attic vents and destroying the flimsy screen.
What this means for next Summer is a likely *Starling* nest unless I crawl
through fiberglass insulation into the tight quarters where these holes are
and tack some heavy hardware cloth over the holes.

Things seemed pretty alive (bird-wise) in downtown Olympia today. I watched
an adult *Bald Eagle* fly by the Natural Resources building. When I was
leaving the building I saw a falcon that looked to be *Merlin* sized flying
speedily out of view (very merlin like to my mind). The other possibility
would be that it was a *Peregrine Falcon*. A group of us state employees
watched one devour a pigeon on the Transportation building a month or so ago.

Bald Eagles seem to be easy to come by right now. I saw two adults
terrorizing gulls (and perhaps each other) at the mouth of Kennedy Creek on
Christmas day and two flying by Alderbrook Inn on Hood Canal the next day.

Kelly McAllister