Tweets,



Off to a good start this overcast, blustery Sunday morning.

Added two new species to our yard list.

We're in the northwest part of Seattle, WA. Olympic Manor, a former golf course on the hill above Golden Garden / Blue Ridge, with views of Puget Sound, South end of Whidbey Island. We watch the Edmonds - Kingston ferry go back and forth all day.

The usual suspects al showed up for breakfast; White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrychia leucrophris), Golden-crowned Sparrow (Z. atricapilla ), House Sparrow (Passer domesticus); our two 'watchers' American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos); Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), and Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla).

Looking up on one of the wires a couple of American Robins (Turdus migratorius) did a transformation into a single robin and three Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum). Those are new for our yard. I figured they would come down to our neighbor's catoneaster (Catoneaster spp.), the berries of which look ready for consumption, but unfortunately they took off before my wife and daughter could see them. Seconds later my eye was drawn to another new shape, or rather a familiar turdus shape but the wrong color. A Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi). Two new species within minutes! Problem is I spent the next 45 minutes scanning for repeat visits or more surprises (I should have been doing other things). But I had to settle for our two resident male Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) duking it out around the feeder. Still, made my day. And it was only 9:10 AM.



Cheers,

Martin Muller, Seattle, WA

martinmuller at msn.com