Left the house this morning for the first time in three days. Yippee, fresh
air! Anyway it paid off as I had a new yard bird in less than 5 seconds.
Heard a distant croaking and felt my heart race (ok, not really)...a COMMON
RAVEN flew over seconds later to clinch my ID. Not that exciting to most,
but I live quite near downtown Oly where just this year on the CBC Keith
Brady and I both had our first ever downtown Raven. So that's twice in a
season for this species downtown (it flew towards East Bay/ Priest Point
area)! It is also a species that is absent from Scott Richardson's "East
Bay Bird Guide" from 1997.

Also on Sunday the 11th of January I watched a MOUNTAIN BEAVER gather Salal
(very noisy critter, first thought it was someone's dog before I actually
saw it) near the Lacey Library (just north of Olympia). This is the second
time I've seen this usually secretive mammal in the area (within 100 yards
of first spotting, which was at least a year ago). Cute little guy, though
a friend who is a former rehab worker says they have many creatures living
in their fur...also I recall she said they smelled pretty bad...
Check out the Burke Museum link below for a picture and more facts on these
fellows:
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/mammalogy/mamwash/apru.html

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA