In a message dated 2/6/99 10:51:10 PM Pacific Standard Time,
robin_birder at hotmail.com writes:

<< ....As for weird how about a varied thrush who is going after millet on my
deck? Is he
confused? .... >>

As for the millet eating Varied Thrushes, maybe that's not so unusual. I
loosely sprinkle millet specifically for them on the gravel walkway and along
a rock wall and flower bed which they dearly love and the light sprinkling
means they can eat it all up before it gets moldy and the ground contaminated.
Occasionally, I'll add sunflower and peanut chips to the mix, but not so much
as to encourage the squirrels. The thrushes have by now completely trashed
the flower bed as they've relentlessly rooted around, scratched, and probed
the place to death and toss all the debris out to the side which I
periodically rake up by the bucketfull. I'm impressed at how the Varied
Thrushes appear to be rather hygienically minded. When it's time to 'take a
dump', they fly up on the rail of the wooden deck or a branch rather than
fouling the ground where the millet is. Maybe *that's* weird... or maybe
*I'm* weird for noticing.

The local winter Varied Thrush flock usually maxes out at about 15 in mid-
January, after which the annual slaughter follows with the marauding Sharp-
shinned Hawk, and thus the yard and walkway becomes an unintentional 'Sharp-
shinned Hawk feeder'. Now the flock is down to about 6 or 7. I sort of feel
a little ill at ease when this happens. I must confess to feeling a bit
guilty about this setup and probably should just quit, but it's also nature
and the Varied Thrushes would otherwise still fall prey where a birders eye
would never see or know. Oh my, I feel the heat of flaming condemnation
coming on now.

My White-throated Sparrow continues his residency here (since December 24th).
I don't always see him every day as it likes to lurk in the scrub, but his
loud metallic chip note is so distinctive from anything else around, I always
know when it's nearby. Also, for the first time, I finally have a couple
Anna's Hummingbirds (for about a month now). I don't know why that's been
such a hard bird to come by around here. The dominate figure is an immature
male which aggressively guards the feeders from the occasional adult male
intruder whom he usually chases off. As the days go by and each getting
slightly longer, it's been interesting observing this immature male as he is
gradually filling out in the metallic throat and forehead. He started out
with just a few flecks, but now is about half way to full. He loves the rain
(just like all of us, of course), sits out in it all day and when not on the
perch or the feeder, ducks down into the nearby bush where he sometimes just
starts buzzing and twittering (singing) his heart out.

Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
Bellevue Eastgate