Hi Tweeters,

Now I got my first rufous hummingbird, and I saw this one, so I'm sure.
The one at my friend's house on Coal Creek never put in another appearance
that we could see. Swallows are appearing up and down the road, but
haven't arrived here yet. Brewers Blackbirds have appeared in the last
week, and I've seen a few varied thrushes. Yesterday we saw a tree with six
red shafted flickers in it.
Our resident pair of Canada Geese have been here for a month or so.
This year other Canada geese have been visiting the farm lagoon, which they
hadn't done in previous years. The resident pair has been driving some of
them off, a very entertaining show. So far we've seen wood ducks, common
goldeneyes (a first on the farm, at least for me), and some hooded
mergensers.
The pair of kites closest to my house are being illusive, and I haven't
had much luck in finding their alternate hunting spots. The pair at the end
of the road has moved over into taller timber, but I can usually catch a
glimpse of them. The immature kite seems to change its hunting spots on a
regular basis.

Mary Schlarbaum
Chehalis, WA 98532