Subject: [Tweeters] December 23, 2009 Yelm, Thurston County
Date: Dec 24 09:09:05 2009
From: scompton1251 at charter.net - scompton1251 at charter.net


Michelle,

When birds fly in a "v" there is no one leader-they take turns taking on this duty.

Steve Compton
Greenville,SC
---- Yelm Backyard Wildlife <yelmbackyard at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Tweets ~ Merry Christmas!
>
> Two very large flocks of geese flew East on Wednesday, December 23, 2009.
> There were three "V" formations and one small line. Each "V" consisted of
> about 30 geese and they flew side by side in two V patterns, the smallest
> line flew in the middle.
>
> Does this mean that these two flocks have different "leaders"?
>
> The Merlin/Hawk was spotted today sitting atop an electric line, in an open
> area, 1/8 of mile from where he/she was spotted several weeks ago. Still
> pale grey breast (fluffy today), flat tucked head, long thin tail, very
> small in stature.
>
> Flying just two blocks North of where I live there were also two Bald Eagles
> circling less than 1/4 mile away from the Merlin/Hawk.
>
> A robin visited my yard Wednesday, too along with the usual Junco's,
> Towhee's, Black capped chickadees, and Jays.
>
> There was also a visit from a woodpecker, but he was too high into the trees
> for me to identify his profile/shadow.
>
> It was great to see the Merlin/Hawk back, especially with the Bald Eagles
> flying within a very short distance from his perch.
>
> Burien, WA had an episode on the news last night where two Bald Eagles were
> fighting in someone's residential backyard. I have never heard of Bald
> Eagles fighting before - so I found that interesting to say the least. The
> poor homeowner heard the ruckus from inside his home and definitely said
> that that THUMP wasn't a squirrel! The Bald Eagles were actually duking it
> out within 2 feet of the homeowners house in his backyard and may have
> rolled off of the roof fighting!
>
>
> Michelle
> Yelm
> Thurston County
> yelmbackyard at gmail.com