Hi Tweets -

As mentioned in Michael Hobbs' report yesterday, Marcus Roening and I
had great looks at a family of Brown Creepers at Marymoor. We were just
at the western end of the boardwalk when we heard and saw the Brown
Creepers. Our initial views was of about four birds, adults and
fledglings. They were moving thru the willows and the adults were
feeding the young birds. It was extremely windy, and after about one
minute the fledglings all found shelter on the lee side of one of the
willows. They were near the top just up against a clump of moss. This
gave us a chance to get a better count. Initially there seemed to be
four fledglings, arranged in a diamond pattern - one on top, two
immediately below, and the fourth on the bottom. They were all snuggled
in against each other, and the adults were coming in feeding them.
Shortly after that the fifth fledgling joined them, up against the
bottom bird. They appeared much as the adults with the exception of
shorter tails and wings, and some of the body feathers looked fringed.
The cluster was so tight together that to the unaided eye it appeared as
a patch of bark mostly surrounded by moss. Through binoculars, the group
huddled together until an adult came in with food. Then one of the young
would turn it head and open it's beak and the adult would shove a bug
(or whatever) in. The next adult would bring food to another young which
would also turn it's head out. The adults were being very successful
returning about every 30 seconds to a minute with food.

Both Marcus and I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition of behavior, and
would have stayed longer but felt we needed to keep the "Big Morning"
going. As it was, we probably spent close to 15 minutes watching the
creepers. A while later we ran into Charlie and Carol at the east end of
the boardwalk, and heading west, and told them where to look. Later they
said they had found the creepers and they were still in the same spot.
When we returned still later with Michael, the creepers had moved on.

I agree with Michael, the morning was a very good one, in spite of the
wind, and I look forward to next year's second annual Big Morning.

Brian H. Bell
Woodinville, WA
bellasoc at isomedia.com
www.peregrinenorthwest.com