After reading Connie's piece on her encounter with bushtits I thought I'd
relate my encounter with them yesterday morning.

I had gone out to water plantings in the yard and had gotten to a raised bed
of native wildflowers and ferns along the north edge of the property
adjacent to madronas, alders and the ever present scots' broom. A raucous
twittering caught my ear and I noticed tiny blurs flitting around the
madrona just over my head. A troop of voracious bushtits (always reminding
me of a troop of tiny, winged monkeys) flitted about, jumping, hopping,
hanging about in the trees and shrubs, totally unaware of my presence. It
took all my concentration to keep the narrow stream of water aimed where I
wanted as I kept an eye on the bushtits. Occassionally a bushtit would work
its way to the edge of the vegetation, look me over then return to gleaning
whatever it does from the leaves. After about 10 minutes of this the flock
took off to more productive vegetation in another part of the yard. During
their close encounter with me I was out of time and space with the rest of
the universe, just me, the bushtits and my watering.

As I moved to another area in need of watering (gravel soil drains so well)
the sounds of cedar waxwings began to take over my hearing. Upon looking up
into the tree tops in my yard and adjacent yards I began to see more and
more waxwings. At one point the individual smaller flocks merged into a
single flock of well over 100 waxwings. It seemed as though members of
smaller flocks were trying to enlist members of other flocks to join theirs.
By the time the large flock began landing the flocks broke up again,
apparently not all being able to fit into the tree they were trying to land
in. The several smaller flocks continued to flit around the area for the
rest of the time I was watering.

Near the end of my 2 hour watering session a pileated woodpecker did a fly
by, flashing its white underwings. Meanwhile the resident flock of about 20
goldfinches, (they had a very productive year), boldly fed on the deck, only
moving when I watered plants there.

Could those moments in birding in which we are completely out of touch with
the 'real' world be what draws many to watching birds? Five minutes of free
birding are worth many hours on a expensive psychiatrist's couch.

Mary Hrudkaj
hrudkajm at hotmail.com
Belfair/North Mason County