A couple of questions/comments:

1. Kudos to all the tweeters that participated in today's show on KUOW's
"Weekday" program! It was very cool (and weird, in a cool way) to hear
the voices of people whose name I know from email correspondence... Good
show! I wish they did more birding shows like that!

2. Re: the "cat" issue. I'm both a cat lover and a bird lover, just
like the gentleman who called today on the radio. However, being such, I
choose to keep my cats indoors and spoiled rotten, so they have no need or
ability to get out and kill birds! I wish more people did the same thing,
and did not insist on letting their cats outside. My cats are completely
happy indoors, and they get a lot of pleasure at "stalking" the birds on
my many feeders from the windows. And I don't have any "dead bird guilt"
on my hands!

3. Re: the binoculars issue: Can anyone recommend a GOOD quality pair
of ***compact*** birding binocs? I have a good pair, but they weigh a
ton, and aren't very convenient to lug around (along with my umpteen tons
of camera gear).

The only compact ones I've found are lower quality, and don't offer enough
range. The ones I've seen are approximately 8 x 30 to 9 x 50. Blech. On
the other hand, I'm not interested in--nor have the ability to--spend $1k
on a pair of binocs. Can someone recommend a good pair of /midrange/
binocs that offer a wide enough scope and to be useful?


4. Lastly, I need some help with a bird ID for the Audubon BBC. I'm
sitting here at work, and just saw a flock of birds I simply cannot
identify.

These birds are the size of a golden-crowned kinglet, and the relative
shape of a nuthatch (in that their head is squashed down next to the body,
looking like they have no neck). They vary from dusky olive to a
yellowish-olive underneath. There are no wingbars present on either
gender. They are relatively uniform in color, with a medium-length, sharp
pointed bill (seed eater bill).

Their color is overall uniform, except for an occasional one that travels
with them that has a yellow and black striped crown. They were spotted
flitting from a conifer tree to a deciduous tree, and liked to stay up in
the canopy. I liken their behavior to a chickadee because they grab onto
branches upside down occasionally. I often see them mid-day in a small
flock (about a dozen birds). They hang out in the tree outside my window
for about 20 minutes, and then move on.

This is driving me insane, I just can't identify them. Can anyone offer
any suggestions as to what to look for on the web? I can look up ohotos
of suggested species that way.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

--Jacki Bricker
Woodinville, Washington
(Writing to you from work in Bellevue, Washington)