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> From: Ruth Sullivan <GODWIT at worldnet.att.net>
> To: ravenn at premier1.net; tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: A Bird at the Window
> Date: Wednesday, January 14, 1998 9:33 AM
>
> Hi Yvonne,
> This was indeed a beautifull story to write.This reminds me of my past
> neighbor, when she invited me in to her yard, to identify a Slate-colored
> Junco.To this Bird incedent, we became friends.She owed almost 1/2 Acre
> Land right in the middle of fircrest.surrounded by Houses.The best part
> was, she had a creek running to her yard,which always attracted lots of
> Birds.To her advise and help, i converted my whole yard in to a
> BIRD-SANCTUARY.This is also wy now we increased our population in Birds.
It
> would be to long to write all the Good Think what came out of this One
> encounter about this Slate-colored Junco
> Thank you for sharing this Story with us on Tweeters.
> Ruth Sullivan
> GODWIT at worldnet.att.net

>

> t
>
> ----------
> > From: ravenn at premier1.net
> > To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> > Subject: A Bird at the Window
> > Date: Tuesday, January 13, 1998 2:37 PM
> >
> > Tweeters,
> > Yesterday, while I was at work, I had a phone call from an elderly
> > woman who needed help identifying a bird that had appeared at her
> > window. The bird had been hanging around her house for a week. She
felt
> > the bird was very tame, and sweet and must be someones escaped pet.
She
> > described the bird as a very soft gray with a dainty bill and as it
> > followed her from window to window in her home, she could see that it
> > had some light on its wings and white around its eyes. It was smaller
> > than a robin but was surely larger than a sparrow. She said she put
out
> > birdseed for it and she opened her windows and doors in hopes that it
> > would fly in so she could catch it and could then possibly find its
> > owner. She had called the animal shelter and a wild life care center
> > and they could not help her. I spoke with her for about 30 minutes in
> > the morning and then again in the afternoon for about 10 minutes and I
> > finally offered to stop by her home the next morning to see if I could
> > identify this bird for her.
> > This morning as I parked across the street from her home, I
> > immediately noticed a gray bird clinging to her window sill. Armed
with
> > my binoculars I discovered that the bird there was a Townsend's
> > Solitaire. The woman came around the corner of her home dressed in
her
> > robe and I spent the next 30 minutes in her company as she showed me
her
> > yard and her home and took me into her livingroom to let me watch her
> > new found friend. She was sure the bird came to her window to see her.

> > I watched the bird as it hovered and gleened insects from an evergreen
> > bush on the otherside of her yard. Her yard is rich in a variety of
> > mature plants many of which had berries. The woman tapped on the
window
> > and moved her curtain and the bird flew over and hovered near the
window
> > a foot or so away from us. It then perched in a branch very near her
> > window.
> > In Kenn Kaufman's book, Lives of North American Birds, he describes
> > Towensend's Solitaires as usually seen alone. "Feeding mostly on
> > berries in winter each bird maintains its solitary status by defending
a
> > winter territory, staking out a supply of berries in a juniper grove or

> > similar spot." Mrs. James believes this bird has befriended her and
> > comes to her window to say hello to her. No way am I going to be the
> > one to tell her that her bird sees itself in her window and is trying
to
> > ward off the "offending" bird it sees. She is happy now to know that
> > this is not an escaped caged bird, but a wild bird which is adapted to
> > the weather and very capable of caring for itself outside. And I am
> > sure she will enjoy its company for as long as this one bird wishes to
> > call her yard its home.
> >
> > Yvonne Bombardier
> > Everett, Wa
> > ravenn at premier1.net