Subject: Imm. Red Tail Antics
Date: Jun 7 18:30:23 2003
From: Sue Ericksen - ericksen at nwinfo.net


I missed the show, but this is Bill's story:

One of the red-tail fledglings from the neighbor's pine tree showed up in
our yard this afternoon. Bill spotted him under the lilacs about two feet
from a yard sprinkler I had running. It would come around and pelt him in
the breast...He wandered towards the house, into a flower bed, and then
back down towards the sprinkler. Meanwhile, Brewer's Blackbirds were giving
him a pelting. Then he walked up to the sprinkler, grabbed it and took a
big drink! (96 degrees today, no wonder he was thirsty!) After he let go,
he walked back towards the house, stopping under a large shrub rose (8 ft
from the kitchen window), eyed the bird bath, then walked under the deck
and under the adjacent spruce tree. He hopped up onto a limb 5-6 feet off
the ground and then flew down to the habitat west of the lilacs, still only
five or so feet off the ground. Bill lost sight of him.

After I returned home we listened and watched for him. Finally put the
scope on the pine tree and found both fledglings perched there. Tomorrow I
will show Bill how to use the camera!! but he prefers to be tech ignorant.

Bill & Sue
Sawyer, WA (north of Toppenish)