Subject: Bath day for the birds
Date: Apr 15 22:50:43 2001
From: Dan and Nancy Padberg - padberg at uswest.net


We were treated to a rare sight today. As we sat next to one of the small
waterfall draining our upper pond a female hummingbird spent five minutes
taking a bath and then a shower. She splashed in the creek and then
walked up under the falls to shower. She groomed herself on a nearby
branch and then repeated the bath and shower again. It was really
awesome. Shortly after, eleven Oregon juncos followed suit. One laggard
was there long after the others left. Just really seemed to love his bath.

It was a beautiful sunny day here today after a week of rain, snow and
cold. Six violet-green swallows were flying close to the house and I
hadn't seen them for a couple of weeks. The hummingbirds didn't consume
much nectar this week. The salmonberry and red-flowering currant are in
bloom, so they were regularly snacking on those. When it got really cold,
they did a lot of feeding at the feeders before bedtime. Two females
shared the feeder last night right before dusk. Saw a varied thrush
yesterday and noticed for the first time, we have golden-crowned kinglets
in our "old growth" area on the lower property. They flit around so fast
and are so high up, I had to sit still for about an hour to get some really
good views. They are so tiny and hang on the very tips of the branches.
They sing or squeak the whole time. I got a real good glance of a very
yellow crown.

I'm ready for spring, but we still need some rain. Rain at night, sun during
the day sounds good to me.

Take care,
Nancy


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Zigzag, Oregon
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