This morning I saw my first Brown-headed Cowbird for the yard, a
male. Early dates have ranged all through late April to mid May, but
cowbirds aren't especially common in my yard, and I don't expect it's
the same individual year after year.

A Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow was the first of that species for
the year; I see a few during migration in most years. This one was
especially interesting because I watched it biting off pieces of leaf
from a little weedy composite plant in-between bouts of millet-
eating. That's something I haven't seen before. It was very obviously
eating the leaf, as I could see a piece of the leaf disappearing each
time it grabbed it.

Unlike Ed Newbold, I've had no warblers at my running water this
spring, yet I live in a nice wooded neighborhood, and I'm home a lot
to watch for them. There may well be differences in neighborhoods in
how many migrants drop in each day, perhaps associated with the
surrounding landscape or even proximity to the coast. In fact, I
almost never see Yellow-rumped Warblers - one of the most common
migrants in WA - in my yard. I have seen them on 9 occasions in 14
years, fewer times than Orange-crowned, Yellow, Townsend's, and
Wilson's.
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382

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