To my surprise, upon returning from Wenas, there was a grass nest under the
eave of my porch, directly in front of my front door. The bird was
mysterious at first, and it was hard to get a glimpse of it, each time we
went in or out the door it bolted off the nest. Finally it perched and I got
a good look. A pacific slope flycatcher is raising a brood right outside my
front door. For the past few days she has settled and now continues to sit
when we pass under her. Then today it became very familiar. The front door
was open as I was loading groceries from the car and as I was standing on
the front step, almost under her nest one of the neighbor kids hopped up on
the porch, and then as I was talking, the bottom fell out of the bag and
with a crash a bottle of wine broke at my feet. The flycatcher lost its
patience, and having a kid yell from the porch, HEY a BIRD!, it turned and
went south, bonking into the large window there. Panic and confusion
probably overtook the bird as it fluttered about and then it went through
the front door into my house, landing awkwardly on the banister of the
stairs. My daughter came out of the kitchen and the bird flew upstairs.
After clearing everybody out of the way, I managed to coax the no doubt
freaked out bird out of an upstairs window. She immediately zoomed around
the house and before I could get down the stairs to close the door, she was
back on the nest. She stayed in place as I cleaned up the glass and mourned
my lost bottle of Pinot Noir.

Boy if she keep this life up she will have some stories to tell her kids
when they hatch.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish, WA