Over the years I have seen house finch fledglings at the "feed-me" stage
importuning Cassin's finches for food, even though they are quite capable
of feeding themselves. And, occasionally, the Cassin's will feed them just
to shut them up! This is not too odd as, after all, the sizes and looks are
somewhat similar. However, today I saw a little cross-species begging that
looked pretty silly! A fledgling Spotted Towhee fluttered up to a Song
Sparrow, screaming "feed-me, feed me." The Song Sparrow looked askance to
say the least and flew off about 20 feet. The Towhee chick was right after
him and, after a couple of attempts at putting short distances between
itself and the Towhee, the Song Sparrow gave up and took off. Poor
Towhee...had to hop over to the ground feeder and feed itself! I guess
when you're that age you think any bird you see should be feeding you!

It has finally stopped raining for the first time in days. (I know, I know,
those of you on the west side of the state are thinking, "So? What's your
point?") But, really, for the Spokane area this was a LOT of rain and made
birding difficult...looking up really messes up your glasses and binos! You
all must have electric wiper blades on your binos!

I'm excited that "my" WB nuthatch parents raised all four of their babies
(in a box near my front door) without incident. They are so big that when I
checked yesterday to see if they had left the nest box (they hadn't) they
practically filled it. There's a pair of black-headed grosbeaks coming to
one of my sunflower feeders (NOT the tube...they have a hard enough enough
time just clinging to the edge of the "lantern" feeder). I hope they're
successful breeders. The hummers are out in full force. A male Calliope has
staked out the feeder in front of my kitchen window, and a male
Black-chinned has the one in front of the living room window. I haven't
seen a male Rufous yet but many Rufous females. I figure none of the
females have hatched chicks yet because they're sharing the feeders (when
they are "allowed" to) but I know that later in the year everybody fights
over them - boy, are those Rufous pugnacious! A starling has brought its 3
chicks to one of my suet blocks. Those are BIG babies! Does anyone know if
starlings try to take over robins' nests? Do the robins have defense
mechanisms in place to overcome the starlings' attempts? What other birds
do starlings endanger? My valley is narrow but has a year-round creek
(Coulee Creek) running down the center and varied habitat and there are
old, uninhabited falling-down wooden outbuildings with lots of nooks and
crannies for nesting birds so I get a lot of birds living and/or nesting
here and those just passing through; it's a joy to live here. Now if I
could just get rid of those blasted cowbirds!!!

Regards, Joanne

P.S. to Kelly Mcallister: The books I'm using to try to identify the small
mammels in the area are "Mammals of the Northwest" by Earl J. Larrison and
McDonald's "Encyclopedia of Mammals" - any other suggestions on mammal
books covering the NW I might check out? Thanks.

Jo P.