Hello everyone,
As of April 08, 1999, the 3-to-5 wintering VARIED thrushes had migrated
out of our Seahurst Park border area. The main mass of PINE siskins,
other than a few stragglers, have left as of 04-12-99, and the recent
arrival of many Robins was apparently a passing-through also. I spotted a
MOURNING dove flying over the Seahurst woodland early this morning...
....seemed a bit unusual. The ongoing Band-tailed pigeon watch indicates
at least 5 birds are resident in the Park. Spring and summer visitors
plus nesting species monitoring is in progress, and reports will be
forthcoming as interesting/notable sightings occur.

I spent a long weekend in central Oregon in the Barnhart Rd area about 6
miles west of Dallas, OR, (20 miles west of Salem on the east flanks of
the coastal range, still quite SNOW-covered!) At 700 ft elevation, large
numbers of Dark-eyed juncoes, Varied thrushes, Pine siskins, and a few Fox
sparrows ('sooty' morph) are still massed at feeder locations as of
04-12-99. A few White-crowned sparrows (Gambel's race) arrived 04-11-99
as did a wave of Yellow-rumped warblers (all Audubon's race) with many
singing males. My friends' hummingbird feeders have had Rufous hummers
since about the first of April, and they think they had Anna's hummers
possibly in late Feb or early Mar. They do not believe the Anna's winters
on their hill, but neighbors in the valleys below them keep feeders up all
year.

I am also happy to report a colony of beautiful WESTERN GRAY SQUIRRELS
(fat from all the black-oil sunflower seed feeder raids!) thriving at my
friends' OR ranch (approx location described above paragraph) in the
absence of competing Eastern gray squirrel invasion. So far, the more
aggressive Eastern species has not yet been seen in this immediate area.

Appreciating the sun and cheers,

Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu U of WA & Burien-Seahurst Park, WA

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage."
-Carl Sagan-

"We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities." -Pogo-