Subject: Siskins
Date: Nov 29 18:32:20 1999
From: Michael Hobbs - Hummer at isomedia.com


I never did send out a Marymoor Park report for Thanksgiving morning.

Of course Thanksgiving lands on a Thursday so I was there at 7:30, along with
Brian Bell, Kathy Hornbein, and all the dog people and joggers who are out on a
holiday.

The weather could have been better, as could the birding. There really wasn't
anything notable EXCEPT...

.... we did have a flock of about 250-300 PINE SISKINS, the first flock of the
winter.

It was actually really cool. There were perhaps 100 birds at the top of an
alder (I think) that still had most of its leaves. Then a flock of siskins
came flying down the slough. They went past the tree, but the last two or
three siskins in the flock noticed the activity in the tree. The cloud of
siskins, though already past the tree, seemed to be sucked into the tree just
like smoke into a vacuum. A second flock flew past and also got sucked into
the tree. Very interesting group dynamics visually. The message to turn
around and land travelled through the flock just slightly faster than the birds
were flying.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== hummer at isomedia.com


----- Original Message -----
From: Jane Stewart <mccomb at olympus.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 26, 1999 7:46 PM
Subject: Re: Siskins


> My winter flock of Pine Siskins arrived yesterday morning at 9:15. This
> is first time I have had a flock close to the house this winter (If
> anyone is tracking). They are not banded and I don't have notes from
> last year for comparison. It is nice to see them.
>
> Jane Stewart
> Sequim, WA
> mailto: mccomb at olympus.net
>