Yesterday was such a great bird day in the yard I thought I'd share a
report. I live amongst the trees in Clearview - most are deciduous with
some young evergreens mixed in.

It started at 4:00 a.m. with two great horned owls hooting back and
forth. Woke me up. :)
Went back to sleep and woke up a few hours later to fill the feeders -
immediately got bombarded by Stellars Jays wanting peanuts.
Next to come were the chestnut backed and black capped chickadees -
happy to have black oil sunflower seeds back in stock.
Next were three Pileateds - calling from the tops of the trees, then
taking their turns at the suet.
The Hairys and Downys were next, then chased away by a flicker.
The juncos and song sparrows came to feed on the dropped seeds and
cracked corn.
About the same time a large flock of mixed finches (mostly goldfinches,
some pine siskens and house finches) came in. I have a very large flock
of gold finches showing up so far this year. Their activity on the
thistle feeders reminds me of a bee hive.
They were all spooked by the Sharp Shinned Hawk flying through.
Much to my surprise the Sharpie flew up and attacked a Cooper's Hawk
above the neighbor's house.
When the hawks moved on the birds came back, this time joined by a large
flock of ruby and golden crowned kinglets.
One of the highlights of the day was when two white throated sparrows
joined the song sparrows and juncos. There may be a third white
throated sparrow, a first winter bird, but it stays hidden.
I also saw a bird that looked like a white crowned sparrow without a
white crown? Do they lose the crown in winter?
Of course the towhees are always bobbing in and out.
A Bewick's Wren made an appearance at the same time a couple of brown
creepers showed up.
I was watching the kinglet flock when I had another wonderful surprise -
I saw both a yellow rumped warbler and, even more exciting, a Townsend's
warbler among them!

All this before 10 a.m. The White Throated sparrows and Townsend's
warbler were firsts for the yard in the two years I have lived there.

Cheers!
Cathy Wise
cathy.wise at cingular.com
Snohomish, WA