Since my last posting on 27-Jan, I have continued to weigh the feeders most
nights. The sugar consumption at the end of January was about 14g per day.
It has now increased to about 21g per day.



The number of males has increased also, from 3 to 8. I find the easiest way
to track them is to wait until about 10 minutes before sundown, when Attila
takes his final drink for the day and heads over to a neighbor's shrub for
the night. Within seconds several males show up and start feeding. They go
one per feeder, with the later arrivals waiting in nearby trees and bushes
for their turn. It's fairly easy to walk round and do a headcount.



Females have become less visible, with a decrease from 3 over the winter to
one or two now. Since the weather cooled down there have been very few dive
displays - this could be due to the lack of females, or the return of winter
conditions.



Last night I brought the feeders indoors, as usual when it gets below
freezing, with the intent of putting them back out before sunrise. I was a
little tardy in replacing them, and Attila was waiting for me when I stepped
out. He flew alongside me, chipping, until the feeder was replaced, and then
started feeding. There were no other birds around. So the dominant male's
sleeping habits seem to be "Early to bed, early to rise".



Thanks to all of you who sent e-mails after the last posting - please let me
know if this gets boring. Thanks also to all of you who suggested that my
Blue Grouse was probably a Band-tailed Pigeon. It returned a few days later,
and this time I got a good look at it - definitely Pigeon.





Dave Nuttall

NW Bellevue

MailTo:dave_nuttall at yahoo.com