Subject: New subscriber
Date: Jun 8 21:43:49 1999
From: Constance J. Smith - cjsmith at plix.com


Hi, I'm enjoying reading the posts, especially the trip around Okanogan.
I have heard different birds this year, but it sems more variable to me,
that the birds have not settled down yet. Usually when I hear a Veery I
figure all the migrating birds have made it here, this week heard a
Veery, and then 2 days later it was gone. Usually I have also seen
Rufous hummingbirds on their migration, but they have not shown up yet,
The Calliope's look very cold and sit all puffed up in the sun. I will
be doing a breeding bird survey in the next week and will share my list
when done. It will be the fourth year on this run and will be
interesting to see how the year is different from the past. The survey
runs from the Canadian border to the Columbia River at Kettle Falls,
which actually is Lake Roosevelt, no longer a river.
On the Roundup discussion, in talking to a pesticide sprayer this week
about noxious weed spraying, there is a Rodeo brand of glyphosate which
is approved for use around water because it degenerates (EPA label
approved use). The other glyphosate commonly known as Roundup
apparently has surfactants mixed into it so that it attaches to the
green leaves and is restricted by EPA label use to not be used in
riparian areas or around water. So read your labels, probably it is
better to use less than more. However, I am not pure, I am using it
because I hate to spend my whole summer weeding gravel in the driveway
and pulling grass out of bedding areas. Actually some of the prettiest
flowers people see along roadways are noxious weed invaders like yellow
and orange hawkweed, and pulling them has been pretty unsuccessful
around here. Sometimes chemicals (direct spray spot, not
indiscriminately sprayed) have been the solution. Now I will put on the
asbestos suit!

--
Connie Smith
Kettle Falls, WA
(northeast WA, Stevens County)