Subject: Amusing anecdote
Date: Jan 9 15:48:27 2000
From: Christine Vadai - christinevadai at sprynet.com



Hi tweets,

Forgive the indulgence, but I wanted to share a strange encounter.

I was talking with a coworker last week, a guy who grew up in southwest WA, and now lives near Seattle. I asked him about his recent trip to northern Florida. He told me I would not *believe* what kind of bird he saw down there.

Of course, I was imagining a Painted Bunting, a Red-cockaded Woodpecker, a Roseate Spoonbill...

He said, "a Red-tailed Hawk!"

I replied, "Is that all? But they're really common around here."

He got really adamant. "No, they aren't. They're not native to Washington. I've never seen one before in my life! The one I saw had a red tail and everything!"

Actually, I've seen one, sometimes two, sitting on a streetlight 100 yards from our building, virtually every day for the past five years. Sometimes, they even circle overhead, red tails and all.

.... which goes to show how much attention the average person pays to the birds in their own backyard. <Sigh>

Regards,
Christine Vadai
Mill Creek,WA
christinevadai at sprynet.com