Today (3/21) our yard was full of birds! When I first went outside I saw 3
VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS flying way over our house. Later the number increased
to 10 of them. There are still many PINE SISKENS, I'd say 50+. There are also
still some VARIED THRUSHES, but only 4 or 5. Earlier this year we had as many
14 of them. When you walked outside in the morning you would just about go
deaf with all of them singing their eerie high-pitched whistle. Later in the
day I saw 2 female PURPLE FINCHES hanging out together as if close sisters.
After they left I saw 1 male PURPLE FINCH singing in a tall tree. This year
is the first year we have seen them and now they're setting up territory!
Yesterday (3/20) there were even more birds in the yard. I started the
day off by successfully calling a male SPOTTED TOWHEE into the yard with the
CD Player after I heard him singing in the distance. Boy is he territorial! I
haven't seen him attack the window yet but every time I play the CD he starts
pacing back and forth across the yard and mewing as if he was stressed. Later
in the day all the Siskens and Juncos were singing in full force! I witnessed
two aggressive males land on the ground feeder at the same time, start
clicking madly and raising there neck to make themselves look bigger. The
smaller one flew away when he saw that he was smaller. I saw a GREAT-BLUE
HERON flying low over the yard for our 3rd yard sighting. Off and on there
were three COMMON RAVENS soaring over the yard with about 10 crows in hot
pursuit. I have noticed some very strange (to me) flight behavior in these
birds. They are flapping along and all of a sudden they fold their wings and
do a barrel-role in the air! One time one even did a triple barrel-role! Is
this regular and is there an explanation?? Yesterday I also had a 6th yard
record RED-TAILED HAWK, a new yard bird: PILEATED WOODPECKER which I
accidentally called with the CD player, and a COOPER'S HAWK soaring way above
the yard. We usually don't have Cooper's visit our yard, but have a resident
imm. male and imm. female Sharp-shinned Hawk that usually come 1-3 times a
day, being very successful most of the time. I haven't seen either one of
them for 2 days though. You can put any of these birds on the Seen & Heard if
you like, Jim. I am going to SE Arizona on Thurs. March 23rd through April
2nd and will be staying at the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon for 2 days
and staying in Phoenix for the rest of the time. I should get lots of lifers!
Good Birding!

Visit my birding website at:
http://hometown.aol.com/birdking88/index.html

Birdking88 at aol.com
Charlie W. Wright
Sumner, WA
Age 11