For more than three years we leased a home on the northwest corner of Pine
Lake in Sammamish, which had varied and beautiful gardens. It was living here
that turned us into birders. One highlight we couldn't ignore our first spring
on the lake was a pair of Bullock's Orioles nesting in a magnolia tree in the
lakeside yard. They were facinating to watch, and every 20 minutes, like
clockwork, they would fly to the red hot pokers planted just off our porch to sip
nectar.

Now, after 14 months of construction, we've just moved into our own home on
Pine Lake, in the southeast corner, and one of the first things we'll plant in
our lakeside yard is red hot pokers. Hummers love them, too, as did many
others.

Congrats on such rewarding results for your landscaping efforts. Our big
landscaping efforts will begin in earnest this fall, but still, we've already
added new birds to our "Lake List", most recently, a male and female Evening
Grosbeak, and a male Western Tananger.

As an aside, one other thing we never saw on the northwest side of the lake
was turtles. Once we moved, it seems everywhere we look there are huge Painted
Turtles sunning themselves on logs and fallen trees. Turtles the size of your
head. (Okay, maybe a small head, but a head nonetheless.) They're amazing!

Linda Davey
Pine Lake
Sammamish, WA