i went birding this past weekend in central washington and i also
made a quick visit to nisqually, and i tallied 72 species total!

some of the best sightings were;

being "buzzed" by a courting anna's hummingbird while i studied
a rufous hummer sitting on a nearby branch

hearing the lovely, bubbling songs of my old-time friends, the
western meadowlarks.

watching the aerial ballet of courting kestrels, holding my breath
as they plummeted down, down, down towards the sheer canyon walls
and narrowly averting a disastrous collision with the sheer
basalt columns, and thereby allowing me to breathe again.

hearing the fluid songs of the canyon wren echoing around me as
i sat on the warm earth, soaking up the sun's rays.

identifying my first deer tick of the season as it walked across my
jeans. hrm....

finding a herd of mountain sheep and several groups of mule deer
where i had expected to find them. (as an aside, i also found at
least four dead deer during my wanderings. it appears that this
winter was rather harsh.)

and that's about all to report, without making a long LONG list of
everything that i discovered.

take care.

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
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