Early Sunday morning at Wenas I walked up and over Hogback ridge and to the
west, at my poking around pace, stopping regularly to look at flowers,
birds, and bugs. I found a likely spot with a convenient stump and sat for a
spell to let the world gather around me. I often find that by just sitting
still and being watchful, I blend in enough so that the animals whose lives
I interupted with my original tresspass go back to doing their lives again.
I kept seeing a Cassins finch flying with materials in his beak and finally
followed him to the under construction nest. There was another handy stump
to perch upon so I watched the domestic duties of nest building for an hour
or so. One thing that stood out was the division of labor was very clear.
HIS job was to fly down and get small sticks and pine needles, HER job was
to stand on the platform and reject most everything HE brought, tucking the
few satisfactory items into the nest. It was hard not to laugh out loud a
couple of times as HE brought up a stick and dared to try to tuck it into
the platform. Any time HE tried this, SHE pulled it out and a couple times
flipped the stick away with a disdainful toss of her head. After a few more
attempts at this, he gave up trying to be Bob the Builder and stuck to his
role as Bob the stick bringer.

My attention was diverted from this domestic tranquility by a flicker who
was hopping up and down on the ground, flying up a foot or so, then landing
again, then flying up again. Each flight covered 2-3 feet, almost like a
long jump. I have no idea why the bird might be doing this, it was quite
odd, even bizarre. The bird went boinging down the slope in several large
jumps, not unlike a minature kangaroo. By this time my threshold for stump
sitting had been exceeded so I made my way back to camp and breakfast.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher

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