Subject: New Birding Spot (For me anyway)
Date: Feb 28 17:30:33 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Rolan,
First welcome to the nice town of fircrest.We been living here since 1967.I was not in birding than.But Fircrest is a small city incorporated what got a lot of trees and good habitat.But all around us been building up including the big complex of new houses what you mention,what really is not in Fircrest.The place you birded used to be a hot spot for birds before there took all the trees out and builded it up house on house the last year.This is part of our CBC Area.This last year we had low count in that area.You should get many nice birds in you yard,because since there builded so much on the out -skirts of fircrest the birds increased in our yard.When the birding is slow we always saying we should have stayed home and watch the birds in our yard.

Cheers Ruth Sullivan
----- Original Message -----
From: Rolan Nelson
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 10:34 PM
Subject: New Birding Spot (For me anyway)


Greetings,

Since moving from woody Burley over in Kitsap County to somewhat more urban Fircrest (Pierce Co) I've been nosing around for some new neighborhood birding spots. Just south of my place, near the corner of Orchard and Emerson, a new housing development has been kind enough to "tame" a wetland to the southwest of that corner. The good news is they created a nice, level gravel path that borders the area giving some nice views of the habitat. Lots of Flickers and lots of signs of Pileated Woodpeckers in the snags. The other morning I was treated to two mini dramas, one right after the other.

First, I was casually watching a lone pair of Canada Geese enjoying each other's company and a pond all to themselves. Out of the south came a loud honking pair who spied the pond but not the residents. When the newcomers hit the water, the resident pair hit them.. with a vengence! Talk about protecting your territory. It was quite a five minute battle before the interlopers were driven off.

Not ten minutes later a noticed a pair of Robins (one small, one large) flying in tandom. The larger one turned out to be a Sharp Shinned Hawk in almost leisurely pursuit of the Robin. Sitting back and toying with him. He(She?) would occasionally close the gap, then slide back a little. Kinda reminded me of a scene from Top Gun. I could almost hear the Hawk saying "guns,guns,guns" They cleared the horizon and disappeared behind a line of trees w/o making contact, so I can't even tell you the end of the story.

Still, a nice "new" spot for me to hang out.

-Rolan


Rolan Nelson
Fircrest, WA
rnbuffle at yahoo.com


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