Tweeters,
The spring song thread reminds me: this is the time of year I do all my
driving under the influence of "Birding by Ear" tapes, tuning up my bird
song i.d. skills. This year I'm planning on making my own edited
version of just the songs I need to concentrate on: I've got the
killdeer song (and most others) down pat. For those who don't know any,
or very few, bird songs, you are in for a great grwoing experience if
you use "Birding by Ear" Western Version by Richard K. Walton and Robert
W. Lawson, or a similar tool.

You will get some fun responses from friends, however. One time we left
our car at the airport and had a friend pick it up for us. We'd been in
the woodpecker section of the tape, and our friend said he heard these
really weird sounds when he started the car, and thought something must
be terribly wrong with it. Then he heard a voice say, "That was the
hairy woodpecker." He loved to tell that story at parties.

Another topic: In a small town, it doesn't take much to become known as
the "bird lady." (The qualifications are something like being able to
tell a robin from a goldfinch.) Anyway, I'm supposed to give a talk to
a group of teen boys and I'm supposed to answer the question they posed:
"What is the velocity of a sparrow?" How fast does your average sparrow
fly, I guess is what they want to know. Any idea?
Kristi Streiffert
Coulee Dam, WA