Hi Tweeters,

I met my sister and brother-in-law, Sue and Warren Terrell, on Magnolia
yesterday morning to search for the Hooded Oriole. We found Phil Mattocks
already there. Phil located the oriole and in the next 45 minutes or so we
tried to get decent looks at it. It finally decided to rest in the top of
a cedar tree to the west of the pines it favors and allowed good
opportunities for photos. Four on mine are in the new photos folder on my
website.

We drove around through Tacoma to the quarry east of the old Port Orchard
airport searching for Mountain Quail, but, of course, the middle of the
afternoon isn't good quail time. One of Einstein's rules of relativity is
that you can't be in more than one place early in the morning, which is the
best time for Mountain Quail and nearly every other bird. George Gerdts
had sent me directions to the house of friends of his near Seabeck, who
have MOQU coming to their feeder. We arrived at 3:00 and waited patiently
for fifteen minutes, then played a tape. A Mountain Quail answered
immediately from about 30 feet away but it was hidden in the brush. It was
not interested in us seeing it, so we had to be satisfied with a "heard bird".

This morning I stopped at Luhr Beach to try for Purple Martins. It was a
wonderful experience. I had never been close enough to hear them
before. Being able to stand ten feet away from them was a real
pleasure. They were chattering up a storm. Three photos are also in the
new photos folder, along with ones of an Osprey, an intermediate Red-tailed
Hawk and a Purple Finch.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA

* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* dgranstrand at charter.net *
* Denny's bird photos can be seen online at: *
http://granstrand.net/gallery/