I've recently read with envy reports of Pileated Woodpeckers and
Black-headed Grosbeaks at feeders. Then I thought, here in our suburban
Vancouver neighbourhood of Kitsilano we don't do too badly.

The local Bushtit gang disbanded and, for the second year, two remaind to
nest. Last year the crows got to them so this year they tried a different,
more bushy tree. I was tempted to help nature by putting up some wire
around the nest but thought better of it. I was away for a while and when I
returned the nest had come down. The crows may have been the culprits again
but there may also have been a successful brood as we now have more than two
Bushtits.

Last week we had a fledgling crow on the lawn; again I thought better of
changing the balance of nature by letting the cat out!

Yesterday there were two Northern Flickers fighting over ants in a crack on
the front path. A pair have nested somewhere close by for the past few
years; last year there were at least two of a brood that made it to
adulthood. One of these took a run at the window and ended up on the
ground; out came the brown bag and in five minutes it recovered enough to
be placed in a fir tree where it rested for 20 more minutes before taking
flight again.


Eric Greenwood
Vancouver, B.C.
egreenw at intranet.bc.ca