Tweets,

Someone (Michelle?) posted that all their birds left after the fireworks on
the 4th of July so I decided to do a little back yard survey today to see
what if anything was missing.

I must say last night reminded me of some night in Viet Nam in 1969...Flares
all over, bombs going off, lots of small bangs and pops. I went outside about
10:30 (never did that in 'Nam) and there was a cloud of cordite smoke hanging
over the neighborhood. Didn't see any casualties, thank God. End of
similiarity.

This morning I had the usual cast of characters at my feeders: JUNCOS, HOUSE
FINCH, PINE SISKINS, MOURNING DOVE, GOLDFINCH, and more SONG SPARROWS then
usual. I also had a couple of juvenile RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS zipping around as
usual. I did not see any change from normal. The RED CROSSBILL that has been
hanging around for the last couple of days also showed up today as did the
STARLINGS and COWBIRDS. If the fireworks scare the birds off I must have a
bunch of combat vets that visit my place. By the way this development is
fairly new. I've been here 4 years this coming weekend and I guess the last
house was finished 2 years ago.

Bill Ward and I did see a squirreley SPOTTED SANDPIPER at Black Lake Meadows
this morning. We first spotted it sitting on top of a swallow nest box. Next
it flew to a small brushy stump where it landed in the branches and sat for a
while. Later it flew down to the mud flats and acted like a sandpiper before
flying back to the top of a swallow nest box again. Maybe he (she?) was a bit
shell shocked from last night?

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
scrbjay at aol.com

We were few and they were plenty. Now we are plenty and they are few.
Confucius