I'm new at this, and have envied all of you who reported Varied Thrushes in
your yard. Well, this morning we had four of them plus 8 Robins and 2
starlings strip our beautyberry bushes of their iridescent purple berries in
a couple hours. They must be hard up for food! They would have gotten the
berries sooner except the stems are so thin and lightweight they really had
to work at it. Also have Juncos (6) a Towhee, Flickers, a flock (20) of
Bushtits, and hummers at our various feeders.



What is the best birding book you can recommend? With all due respect, I've
found the Audubon Handbook of Western Birds a bit lacking for a beginner
like me. Any better books out there? I'd appreciate hearing about some
others.



P.S. We just put out a shallow birdbath about 2 minutes ago and already have
a Bewick's Wren (I think) taking a bath, and a Robin and a Junco just joined
the Wren while a Towhee is checking it out as well. So thank you all who
recommended putting out water for our friends!



Tom Luhnow

West Seattle, WA