I've been out of town for a few weekends this last month and boy, the birds
they are a changin'!

Three weekends ago I left on a Thursday and still had 3 rufous and 3
black-chinned hummers on the feeders. I came back on the following Sunday
evening and they'd all bugged out. But then the first white-crowned sparrow
showed up, followed by a dozen more in the next few days. They were all
juve's with rust and tan stripes on their head. Now, three weeks later,
about half of them have changed to black and white. I haven't seen a
goldfinch for days. The week before last there were about 14, many of them
just changing out of their juvenile plumage; this week I haven't seen one
although they do winter here.

The day before yesterday the first juncos appeared in the yard; a sure sign
of winter even though it was 81 last night at 8:00pm.

The most amazing sight yesterday was an adult female Western Bluebird with
4 youngsters. A couple of them still had some spotting on their breast. I
haven't seen a bluebird for weeks and weeks and didn't expect to see
another before next Spring, so it was really neat seeing this late
family...just as long as they head south before this part of the state
remembers it's not Summer anymore!

I'll be gone again this weekend. I can hardly wait 'til I get back and see
which of the "regulars" has moved on back to this area.

Regards,
Joanne
Reardan (Spokane) WA
jhpowell at snapwa.org