Hi folks,

I'm not intending to kindle a "Dreaded Cat Thread", but just thought I'd
share the note from a person who'd reported one of the juncos I banded
this last fall (30 Oct 99). The report to the Bird Banding Laboratory was
that the bird had been 'found dead' here in Olympia (7 Jan 00), so I
wrote to ask if she had any more specific information on the poor bird's
demise.

>From the information in her following response, the BBL's "how
obtained" information will be changed from '00-found dead' to '12 -
killed by cat', and may provide a bit clearer picture to those people
looking at band reports for an idea of how our birds live and die.

In the part that I clipped, she also reported Meadowlarks singing on
the south Thurston native prairies. More signs of spring!

Jon. D. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net
Permit #21792
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From: nuphar at springmail.com[SMTP:nuphar at springmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 7:35 PM
To: festuca at olywa.net
Subject: Junco Band

Dear Jon. Anderson,
I read your letter about banding with great interest. The junco that had
been banded was, I regret to say, killed by my cat. I have no knowlege
of the condition of the banded junco before my cat ate it. I was actually
only deducing that it was a junco from the feathers, as all that was left
was feathers and legs and feet. I live in West Olympia not far from one
of the well-vegetated ravines, and get quite a few birds in my yard,
where I have some apparently good feeding and watering opportunities
for birds... <clip>

Thanks for writing,
Susan
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