No Blackburnian Warbler appeared at my Seattle fountain yesterday (5/19),
but two more species bathed in it, for a total of 13--I can't imagine ever
exceeding that. And the grand finale was a Dusky Flycatcher that came in
and perched above the fountain and seemed to be watching a warbler bathe,
although the flycatcher didn't do so. I don't think I've ever seen a
flycatcher use it.

I watched the Dusky--#107 for my yard list--long enough to be confident of
the identification, although it didn't vocalize. Pale-breasted,
long-tailed, with conspicuous eyering and conspicuous yellow base to the
mandible, it seemed readily identifiable. It flicked its tail up
repeatedly, eliminating Gray Flycatcher. What a day!

We bought the fountain at a nursery up on Aurora the name of which for the
life of me I can't think of right now, but they have them at most large
nurseries and places like Eagle Hardware. It's just 2 big fake rocks with
basins carved in them that rest on one another with a little pump that
pumps water from the lower one to the upper one, and it runs back down into
the lower one. You can hear the water trickling for quite a distance. I
don't remember how much it cost--perhaps a few hundred bucks. There are
surely less expensive and less bulky ones (it takes two hefty people to
pick up the bottom rock) that would serve just fine. Of course, ours sits
right next to our 19x11' pond, but I think it's the fountain that attracts
so many of these birds, not the pond. Also, I think the setting may be
important. There is a dense thicket of shrubs right next to the fountain,
with even some branches projecting above it. Many of the birds move to the
fountain from the dense shrubbery. But I keep the branches pruned so I can
see it from any of the back windows!

Dennis

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html