Subject: [Tweeters] Golden-crowned Kinglets and Double-crested Cormorants
Date: Jan 30 15:49:38 2005
From: Don McVay - dmcvay at cmc.net


We were interested in the observations of the Golden-crowned Kinglets
by Rob Sandelin and his students from Monroe.?For the past several
winters we have had similar sightings of large numbers, in small
flocks, of these friendly little birds on Orcas Island.

?On our walks around Spring Point, on the southwest tip of the island,
we see the birds foraging for small insects on the ground or in low
lying branches.?They seem to be oblivious of our presence and hop
around our feet in the moss, on blades of grass or in lichen-covered
twigs.

?The area where we see them consists of a mixed coniferous forest with
scattered Pacific Madrone with Salal ground cover and moss covered
rocky outcroppings.?It is along the shore of Spring Passage.

?Photographs from a meter or less are easy, but they move fast and are
out of the viewfinder very quickly.

?We are always excited to see these birds from such a close distance
and look forward to the winter when they seem to change their foraging
habits from up high to down low.

?Sunday morning on the way back from Orcas on the ?redeye? we observed
several thousand Double-crested Cormorants flying westward in v-
formations at water level from Rosario Strait through Thatcher passage
between Decatur and Blakely islands.?The morning boat replacement was
the ?Evergreen State? which is slow enough to get good bird
observations.

?Don and Sandi McVay
Queen Anne, Seattle
dmcvay at cmc.net