Hi, Tweets

The aplodontia thread *has* been very interesting. I took Mammalogy from
Frank Richardson ca. 1970 and one of the things that he told us that stood
out to me was that aplodontias were prone to pruning various shrubs, then
leaving small piles at the base of trees near where their burrows were.
Can't remember if they then took them underneath for winter, or not. I do
know that there is a colony at the back part of my property (a somewhat
steep hillside) and that one must be careful walking due to the many
burrows and soft areas. I have noted cut sword ferns sort of in piles, so
perhaps the appies are doing that.

As for the new bird, I haven't had a new species in the yard for some time,
but while talking on the phone yesterday at the second story level which
looks directly into various trees, three unusual birds landed. At first I
thought they were rather odd evening grosbeaks, but when I got the
binoculars out, they turned out to be red crossbills! I assume they were
all females as I saw no red anywhere. What a treat!

Cheers, Diann

Diann MacRae
Bothell
tvulture at halcyon.com