Hi Tweets:
I've been seeing Red Crossbills every day since April 7 in my neighborhood. At
first I saw them perched on the tops of firs, but they were not eating on the cones.
Now I see them eating cones on the neighbor's pine tree. These birds are making less
noise now than they did a few days ago. A flock of about 20 yesterday called whit,
jigga jigga as it flew in. Today's birds were silent. These are small Crossbills,
not as big as those in E WA that eat ponderosa cones.
Today is the first day that I've heard Purple Finches here in my neighborhood this
year. I could hear a couple in the morning doing a partial song. This afternoon I
went up to a friend's house at the north end of Des Moines Creek Park, and she had 2
males and 1 female Purple Finch coming into her bo sunflower seed feeder.
Yesterday, Thurs, Apr 9, Dan Streiffert and I visited the Zenith Access below the
Masonic Home. It
was mid-day and the tide was out, showing a rocky beach. There were 5 gorgeous
Harlequin Ducks there, 3 males, and 2 females. They were making a small sound, and
the males were chasing each other and pointing their heads up. At a private beach
just south of Anthony's, there were 90 Brant geese flying and feeding near shore.
They were calling. This beach can be viewed w/ a scope from near Anthony's
restaurant at the south end of the Des Moines Marina. At the Des Moines fishing pier
there were Horned Grebes and Red Necked Grebes going into breeding plumage.
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines, WA
linusq at att.net