Tweets-

Great birding in Cle Elum today. I watched up to ten Pine Grosbeak feeding on mountain ash berries in a tree at 112 S.4th St. There are three mountain ash trees, all loaded with berries, very close together near the corner of Harris and S.4th St. The robins and starlings were feeding in all three trees, but the Pine Grosbeak were feeding only in the northern most tree. This was true all three times I drove by the trees. I saw only females and/or immature birds; there were no birds in the red adult male plumage. Also at 312 N. 3rd St., there were two Common Redpoll feeding in the short grass of the front lawn. There was one Townsend's Solitaire about half way up in a birch tree and a Merlin in the top of a conifer in other parts of town.

A big "thank you" to Michael Donohue who urged all of us in his gull class last night to make the drive over the mountains to Cle Elum to see these beautiful birds.

Incidentally, to anyone out there who is overwhelmed with the complexity of the plumages of our local gulls, I highly recommend Michael's gull class.
Irene Potter, Tacoma
isparrow at msn.com