St. Martins is a good spot - the meadow area north of the main campus, with
its drainage ponds, is always worth a look. There's often an interesting
mix of ducks on the pond, as well as Chipping Sparrows, yellowthroats, etc.
It's an excellent spot for hawks - sharp-shins seem especially numerous.
And the place is crawling with very tame deer, and tame coyotes as well.

Eric Kraig
Olympia, WA
kraig at wln.com

At 12:08 AM 5/1/98 -0400, you wrote:
>I've been birding at the St. Martin's College/Abbey campus (Lacey) lately.
> They have a very nice collection of habitat -- coniferous forest with
>dense deciduous undergrowth, large grass areas, and some wetlands. There
>are many well maintained, quiet paths through the forest areas. Things
>there seem to be picking up, bird-wise.
>
>Does anybody else bird there? If so, do you have special places or
>birds there?
>
>I saw a Huttons's Vireo pair there today - building a nest - and got some
>nice pictures of 'em. Spent an hour watching them at work. The female (I
>assume) was clearly in charge. When the male brought lichen and carefully
>placed it, the female would invariably shimmy down into the nest, then get
>out, move the lichen the male had just placed, shimmy down again, and
>settle in with a satisfied look. When she went out to get lichen, she
>placed it, shimmied in to check it, and left it in the same place. When
>the male would bring spider web, he would carefully weave it into the nest.
>When he would leave, the female would strip the web out of the nest, and
>weave it in some place else.
>
>Jerry Blinn
>Silverdale
>
>
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