Hi everyone,



I realize this winter has proven to be a relative bonanza year for Mountain Chickadee (MOCH) sightings?in the Puget Sound area, but it was nonetheless exciting to add a new life yard bird to the list this afternoon when one showed up at our feeders.? With the nearby woods being mostly coniferous, our yard actually sees more Chestnut-backed Chickadees than Black-capped Chickadee and so I actually consider a Black-Capped sighting to be 'rare' for our little mini-habitat.? So today right when I got home after a doctor's appt, I looked out and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a Black-capped.? Fortunately, rather than just assuming the 'obvious' and writing it day, I took a closer look with the binocs and there was a fine MOCH specimen!? He was there for about fifteen seconds and didn't show up again after I ran to get the camera (of course).



Perhaps this is one of the winter resident birds from Ballard, Redmond or Issaquah that decided it's time to migrate upslope to where it actually should be!



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net