Subject: [Tweeters] Townsend's Solitaire - Townsend's Warblers
Date: Oct 28 21:13:47 2008
From: Rob Conway - robin_birder at hotmail.com



It was a Townsend's day in my yard. Early this morning there was a Townsend's Solitair feeding on berries and snatching at least 2 moths right outside my front door. Just before dark a big flock of little guys moved through that included at least 6 Townsend's Warblers; 40+ bushtits; Black-Capped(10+), Chestnut-backed(3) and Mountain Chickadees(1); a Brown Creeper and several Golden-Crowned Kinglets. I heard this flock long before I saw them as they moved through the trees picking through moss, leaves, and branches. I always love these flocks and this afternoons was especially fun because at times it was hard to tell what was a bird and what was a falling leaf.

Looking through all of the trees in the yard after most of the leaves have fallen I found that every young spruce tree (native Sitka and both Norway and Blue ornamentals) on the property had a nest of some kind in it, most looked like thrush (Robins, Swainson's and Hermits all fledged here) - a couple of 40 foot Sitkas have at least 3 nests in them and I'm guessing some are from previous seasons. Rob Conway Preston / Fall City, WA47.53N, -121.92Wrobin_birder at hotmail.com
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