Good day tweets,

Greeted this morning (30 Mar. '00) by the upward slur of notes of an
orange-crowned sparrow I followed my ears and found this bright
yellow-bellied guy active in sunny oceanspray branches. This must be a
royal bird. His crown was huge.

Regarding the training sessions that have been brought to our attention
by Jon. Anderson and others I would say that if you are interested in
learning how to conduct point counts and learning about the songs of the
prevalent residents and neotropical migrants in our forests this is an
excellent opportunity. Banding was not a part of the training and I
don't believe that it is planned for this year. I have attended two of
these sessions in the past. Once as a BLM biotech and another time as an
interested individual with no official affiliation. The concentration on
auditory birding is a superb way to get the ears tuned up with others
who share that passion. The presenters are a great group of fun,
knowledgeable professionals.

The Sun Mountain offering should be especially sweet. It is a beautiful
lodge and the Methow, in Spring, is one of my favorite places. Actually
the Methow, anytime, is one of my favorite places on the planet but when
the balsamroot is covering the slopes with gold it is particularly
wonderful. And I read that SR20 over North Cascades is opening today at
1100. I think it is time for a trip east!

Paul Moorehead
pjm at sos.net
Guemes, WA