The first Varied Thrush I have seen this fall/winter appeared under my
bird-feeder tree yesterday. He stayed in the tree or under it with the
Towhee, chickadees, and red-breasted nuthatch for company for about 8
minutes until the Jays appeared. I have not seen him again.

This afternoon, I was outside pruning trees until 4 pm--too close to the
house for any birds to be at the feeder. Once inside, I walked into the
living room and looked out to see a single grouse in the bird-tree (that
I believe is a box elder). This grouse was gray instead of the rufous
color of the six that were in the tree on December 10th. He stayed in
the tree for over an hour, sitting motionless or moving from branch to
branch to eat the winged seeds.

Darlene Sybert
Cinebar WA
drsybert at northtown.org