Hello Tweets,

While enjoying our yard birds and the snow this morning a single COMMON REDPOLL called overhead amongst a flock of 60+ Pine Siskins,as they continued north over our residence. This was a nice addition to our yard list and one that we somewhat anticipated would eventually show up,if not at our feeders. Perhaps the bird will find our feeders eventually,but so far our yard has been somewhat slow as of this afternoon. We were also treated by 2 Common ravens flying over as they called this morning,which is the 3rd personal record for our yard to date.This past Friday before leaving for eastern Washington we did have an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk fly through our front yard,so perhaps that bird is what is keeping the birds quiet. In addition we have had a small assortment of birds coming to our railing on our patio for crushed peanuts that we put out for them. A single Varied Thrush was most persistent is eating this delicacy and was quite tame at times allowing for some nice photos. We also had a male Varied Thrush in our front yard foraging with "Oregon"Juncos on our freshly shoveled driveway. 5 Band-tailed Pigeons and a Red-breasted Nuthatch also came to the peanut offerings,as well as both Chestnut-backed and Black-capped Chickadees. Next to the crushed peanuts our homemade suet is the most popular feeder food in our yard,especially now with much cooler temperatures!

We have placed several photos of the Varied Thrush and a single photo of a Red-breasted Nuthatch onto our website,which can be accessed from the following link:

http://www.pbase.com/godwit/yardbirds/


In addition to these photos we have placed a few photos from a few highlights from our wonderful weekend on the Waterville Plateau and beyond,which can be accessed from the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/recent_photos/


These photos include a Gyrfalcon near Withrow, a Barred Owl at Bridgeport State Park, and a Bohemian Waxwing at Vantage.


Sincerely,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com