After my posts re the brown-headed cowbirds it was inevitable that as soon
as I said I hadn't seen towhees parasitized, what should I see this morning
but a female towhee feeding 2 BHCO fledgling....that takes care of the Bad
and the Ugly portion of this post.

The Good was seen yesterday while driving by Medical Lake High School.
Medical Lake is about 15 miles west of Spokane. Some years ago Ospreys kept
trying to build a nest on one of the light standards over the sports field.
Finally, a platform was built on top of one standard to allow the osprey to
nest. In the 3 years I have lived in this area I have seen fledglings on the
platform each year. Now a second platform has been placed on another
standard near the original. This year there were at least two fledglings
standing on the edge of the nest. There were four Osprey altogether but two
of them could have been the parents. It's really great when people go out of
their way to accommodate birds instead of considering them a nuisance to get
rid of in any way possible. (Of course, I exclude brown-headed cowbirds and
starlings from that statement!)

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