Hi, Tweets,

Thought some folks might be interested in what I saw this afternoon in =
downtown Olympia when I was walking along Washington Street and 9th.

There were about 5 or 6 House Finches and 3 House Sparrows in some =
pink-flowering ornamental plum trees which were all in bloom. I watched =
them feeding along from branch to branch, and assumed they were after =
insects or something. But after a closer look, I found they were =
pulling the flower buds from the branches and eating them! They were =
selecting some buds, but not others, and would occasionally pick one =
flower which was slightly open. They dropped a few that they had =
picked, and picked *at* some that they didn't pick off, but different =
birds picked off several buds, 'masticated' them, and ate 'em. I =
watched these birds for about 5 minutes, until some customers came out =
of the local Credit Union office and gave me "that" look (the one =
reserved for those of us who perform strange behavior in public.... like =
staring into the trees while standing in the street).

I get quite a few House Finches in the 'feral' (Bing and Royal Anne) =
cherry trees in my back yard, but I have not seen them to feed on the =
flowers there. Also, I didn't expect to see two species from different =
groups feeding on the same 'resource'.

I have watched ring-necked pheasants and Calif. quail eating buds of =
Douglas Hawthorn this time of year, but had not seen finches eating =
flower buds before. Is this a common behavior?

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net