Last summer the USGS was at my place here west of Belfair putting satellite transmitters on three band-tailed pigeons. Two birds made it to wintering grounds in NW California while the third seems to have met its demise in the Vancouver, WA area (it's transmitter hasn't been heard from since December).

On Tuesday I received an email from the USGS guys giving me a heads-up that one of the birds (75691) was making a bee-line back up here. Yesterday's telemetry showed it to be in the Elma area. This morning when checking on the quail and B-T pigeons in the yard I found good old 75691 (tag number). He appears to be healthy and plump and not minding at all the transmitter on his back. A few feathers are out of place but not hindering his movements at all.

Kathy A. had asked me last fall if B-T pigeons had site fidelity. Guess we know the answer to that now.

Pigeons started showing up here in late February with numbers growing everyday. I've now got about 20 band-tailed pigeons here throughout the day.

A mountain quail pair have been coming in to feed every morning this week. There are two other single males hanging together but they are quite irregular in their habits.

Birding never ceases to amaze me..

Mary Hrudkaj
Belfair/Tahuya
hrudkajm at hotmail.com


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