Hi tweets,

One of the joys (and frustrations) of birding for me is that I can spend an hours looking for birds and see nothing but crows and juncos, and then go into the backyard for no particular reason and see something pretty cool.

On Tuesday morning, I went out to find the flowering plum near the feeders chock full of juncos and chickadees, but also a drab little warbler flitting around among them. Usually its just Townsend's at this time of year, but sure enough, it was an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. That same night at midnight, I went outside and heard the piercing call of a WESTERN SCREECH OWL from the other side of the house. A few seconds later, it had moved to the big hemlock next to the deck. There it continued its shrill pronouncements before flying off into the night.

This morning, I went out and noticed large numbers of PINE SISKINs that have been regularly feeding in the cedars. There were around 50 in one flock and 30 in another. Looking carefully at the smaller flock that was down at eye-level, I suddenly spotted one odd-looking siskin feeding near them - with a red face!! A COMMON REDPOLL! I couldn't get a better view of it before it flew off, but I was definitely pleased.

Question: Do Anna's hummingbirds move around during the winter? I'm wondering if there's any point in filling the hummingbird feeder now, since I never get any Annas during the summer months.

Regards,
Christine Vadai
Mill Creek, WA
christinevadai at sprynet.com