Hi, all:

Saturday I noticed that the ospreys are back in their nest above the
Medical Lake High School playing fields. It's always neat to see them
come back to nest.

Earlier in the year I had posted a question about the coloration on the
six crossbills that have turned up at my place; they bred here last year
so I was happy to see them again. The question I asked was concerning the
red on the males. 2 were scarlett and 2 were a deep orangish-red and a
couple of people posted good answers to that question. Now one of the
orangish-red males appears to be changing color. Light splotches started
showing up around his neck and breast. Now those "bleached out" spots are
spreading. Does anyone know why this happens? Is it changing into
breeding plumage? He's the only male I've seen lately so I don't know if
it happening to the others. Or if I'm actually seeing more than one male
and just think it's the same one due to the color changes. Anyone have
any ideas on this?

Regards, Joanne
Reardan (Spokane) WA
mailto: jopowell2 at juno.com