The recent rains, by virtue or by coincidence have brought upon some strange
going ons around here. Yesterday morning and in broad daylight, I was
startled to see a totally confused Aplodontia, aka Mountain Beaver
(_Aplodontia rufa_ ) wandering around aimlessly in the driveway, under the
carport, up to the porch and garage. Not rare by any means in the wetter
parts of the Pacific Northwest; in fact a nuisance in some areas. Just
unusual in that I have never seen one around here on or near the home turf
before, nor even any sign of their existence. I thought it was a giant rat
at first glance, then realized it was more like a tailess muskrat, brown,
small rounded ears and eyes.

Today, and just moments ago, I found 5 unidentified little baby birds less
than a week old, all lying dead on the sidewalk to the back yard and all
within a few inches of each other. I have no idea what they are or where
they came from. There is nothing nearby that supports a nest, no over
hanging branches; just totally exposed and out in the open. Maybe one of the
pesky neighborhood cats brought me a present although I've never seen sign or
behavior around here before of such. The nearest nest that I am aware of are
the Black-capped Chickadees which are currently feeding young in the safe
confines of their nest box. The dead babies look like they might be
sparrow-like, maybe Song Sparrows?

Not so recent, but a few years ago there was that pesky Black Bear that
passed through here and the adjacent green belt to and fro from the trash
dumpsters around the Factoria Mall. Otherwise, everything else in normal.
The slugs are happy once again and are having a field day dashing around as
slugs do on the walks and patio.

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Richard A. Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
Bellevue, WA