Tweeties;
Spring is such a pleasure. Birds continue to filter into the Methow,
in preparation for the major wave of migrants in the next two weeks.
White-crowned Sparrows have been here in force for ten days;
Yellow-rumped Warblers and RK Kinglets now fill the woods with flit
and song, and Townsend's Solitaires are commonplace. I saw my first
Hermit Thrush on Sunday.

The Methow's annual Migratory Bird Count is Sunday May 11, combined
this year with NCW's Birdathon (which offers the option of taking
pledges per bird species to raise money for environmental ed). At
least several of us Methow birders will be traipsing through the
valley for the day, meeting intermittently at meadows and cafes to
compare notes. We'd love to have some of you join us. Let me know
by email if you want more info.

One oblique natural history note: spadefoot toads appeared in a
vernal pond near my house on April 16, chorusing (which seems like a
bit of an aggrandizement of their hoarse call, which sounds like a
female mallard duck snoring). By April 19 eggs appeared, attached to
to grass shoots in very shallow water; they look like they might
hatch today. They are desert-adaped creatures and develop incredibly
quickly. Too bad we didn't evolve in the desert- child rearing would
be much easier if the little tykes made the passage to adulthood in
two weeks.

Dana Visalli