April 15

Tonight Karen and I were standing on the deck enjoying a
beautiful spring evening. Then a robin hopping among the
branches of a bigleaf maple became extremely agitated. At
first we thought we were intruding on his territory, but
then I happened to glance toward the perfectly round hole in
a dead Douglas fir tree that had been excavated by a pair of
flickers last year. Something subconsciously didn't seem
right, because I didn't see the hole. Looking closer, I saw
that the hole was filled with the sleepy face of a western
screech owl! Its ears were sticking out just beyond the
hole; its eyes were just a quarter open; and its coloration
blended right into the tree bark. We never would have seen
it without the robin's help. Maybe if we hope really hard,
it will nest there this year (we've had screech owls nesting
nearby in past years, but never 20 feet from our deck).

For the past week we've had a common loon actively fishing
on our little lake.

Lee Rentz
Shelton, WA
leerentz at ix.netcom.com