Hi Tweeters:

A most exciting encounter today with the largest flock of BUSHTITS I've ever
seen anywhere! These were in my woods and yard. Dozens and dozens -
impossible to count because of the frenzied movements high and low in the big
maple, cedar and cottonwood trees; with a dozen or more swarming the suet
cake at one time. I watched, captivated, for ten minutes or more, until a
male DOWNY flew to the cake; whereupon they up and left, all at once. This is
the first time I've seen BUSHTITS in the yard for years.

The first year I lived here, 1985, a pair raised a brood in the big cedar
tree ten feet from my living room window. I watched them stitching together
their beautiful, hanging-pocket nest with spider webs, and immediately set up
my camera on tripod against the window and shot the entire sequence - through
the fledging of three young; learning, in the process, that they had a lot of
help from other non-nesting Bushtits. One memorable highlight was being on
site the day three or four Bushtits ran off a female Cowbird trying to access
their nest!

Bushtits returned to the same cedar bough the next year, presumably the same
pair, and set to work building a new nest. The previous one was almost
completely destroyed over winter. All went well until the nest was nearly
complete, and tragedy struck! I just happened to be on the patio and
witnessed the cat next door, sitting on the deck railing, suddenly reach out
and grab the flying, male Bushtit in its paw. The nest was abandoned two or
three days later and I had never seen Bushtits in my yard but once, after
that. Until today! YEA!

Amy McQuade
Mercer Island
McBrdwchr at aol.com