Hello Tweeters,

Belatedly, I'm reporting that (as I shared with Ed Newbold a month ago),
we've had loads of Pine Siskins in our Anacortes garden, starting in late
May. Once I counted fourteen at once on the thistle and seed feeders and the
birdbath, all seen from my office window. They outnumbered the goldfinches.
One day a juvenile female Red Crossbill joined the Siskins on the "gold
sock" thistle feeder -- she looked to be three times their size, but they
all fed together peaceably. After a few weeks I noted most of the Siskin
visitors were fledglings. Today I realized that just in the last week their
numbers have dropped off; now I see just one or two at a time.

By the way, thanks to all who gave advice on keeping HOSPs out of our
swallow box. The popsicle stick trick that someone suggested worked: two
sections glued along the upper entrance edges kept both HOSPs and swallows
out, but removing one allowed the VG swallows to wriggle in and out, but
stumped the HOSPs. Yeah! A pair of VGs raised at least three chicks (three
could stick their heads out the entrance at once, anyway), and they
apparently fledged on the Fourth of July, after a week of excited
encouragement from all the neighborhood VGs. Independence Day!

Good birding,

Kristi Hein
Anacortes
khc
--at-------------------
picturesandwords.com