today's feeder watch has been fun, with many species showing for the first
time this year, though frustratingly, none photographically...

the american goldfinches and house finches are in bright plumage; some of
the male AMGOs are almost too beautiful in their yellow and black suits...
the steller's jays apparently feel guilty about pecking suet; you'd think
their guilt would sometimes wrench head from shoulders given the torque of
movement...

new to the porch are the almost-breeding plumaged black-headed grosbeaks,
and at least one evening grosbeak... one of the BH males teased me, landing
on a pine seed/flower not 20 feet away, perfectly-posed, then as i raised
camera slowly, he'd buzz off until i put the camera down again so he could
return... we did this little dance several times before i got the
message...

also new this evening, if you look high over my forest, you can see swifts,
though too high to determine which varietal. and, as i was watching these
flying cigars, i was dive-buzzed by a male rufous hummer... see, i put out
a hummer feeder a few weeks ago that did nothing but leak... it's pretty,
but truly worthless except for drawing ants, which it has unfortunately done
rather well... my rufous friend seemed impatient in my progress to provide
more reliable sweet forage... if anyone has a spare humfeeder in the
neighbourhood, i'm sure Rufus the Rufous would appreciate said donation. :)

in overflight was a great blue heron, headed northwest towards marymoor,
mallards (southwest towards the lake), and both violet-green (in abundance)
and tree swallows (a few)... at the feeder itself, a single red-winged
blackbird female, way too large for the feeder perches, is still quite
determined to retrieve seed...

and, of course, i still have a few pine siskins, chickadees (bc and cb),
juncoes, and red-breasted nuthatches, song sparrows in full song, spotted
towhees calling, and douglas squirrels barking...

it's been a beautiful day in my neighbourhood, a beautiful day to be
neighbours...

00 caren
http://www.parkgallery.org
george davis creek, north fork