my little corner of sammamish is crawling with white-crowned sparrows lately... i don't recall them being a particularly summer bird around these parts, though i get the occasional from time to time. this year, i've had bunches in and around my neighbourhood and more than a few at my feeders the past few days. maybe it's the holiday... :)

oh, and marc hoffman and i poked around the washington arboretum yesterday, managed to enjoy ourselves immensely on the water. among the fun: great blue heron who was attempting to make short work of a very large catfish; numerous fledged cliff swallows; at least one swallow that was probably a dark barn, but had me wondering if there are purple martins in the arb; at least one pied-billed grebe nest; a high-flying green heron; several male wood ducks headed into eclipse plumage; and a far-too-fast demolition of some pretty good sushi after all was said and done.

for those interested, some of my photos of the above are currently appearing in the Photos of the Month gallery at the ParkGallery.org website... enjoy!

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