Today, at the west end of the boardwalk in the Lake Hills Greenbelt of
Bellevue, I saw the first RUHU of the year. It was at its usual perch on a
dead tree. In 1997 it first appeared the last week in March and in 1998, the
first week in April. I did get the first one in our backyard a week ago. Nice
to have them back.

Surprisingly, the Tree and Violet-green Swallows usually arrive in the LHG
during the last two weeks in March, but I haven't seen them there, yet.

Also, I wanted to know if anyone has, or has tried out, the Tri-Pack shown on
page 18 of the ABA catalog. It is a triangle-shaped backpack that mounts on
two legs of the tripod. You can apparently carry it with legs extended, so you
can quickly unsling the pack and setup the tripod. I seems like it might be
worthwhile, but would like to get some first hand comments first.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at aol.com