We took a quick stroll through the big clearcut north of the Olympia
Cheese factory on Sunday morning. Well, the White-crowned Sparrows
are back. Not quite at their peak mid-May numbers, but definitely the
dominant voice in the choir. We saw and heard our first Chipping
Sparrows and MacGillivray's Warblers for the year, and Yellowthroat
numbers are building.

Last year a pair of redtails nested along the edge of the cut. The
general nest site area was hit hard by the ice storm; I think the nest
tree may have been a casualty. A single hawk was in the area Sunday,
but we didn't see any nesting activity. The resident harriers were
also active; I'd like to find their nest (or nests) this year, but
there's a lot of Scots Broom out there for them to hide in.

Eric Kraig
Olympia, WA
kraig at wln.com