The female tufted duck thoughtfully remains at Lake Erie, south of
Anacortes, for the benefit of latecomers such as myself. I first found her
with a group of scaup, as previously described, but later she drifted off
with a large flock of ring-necked ducks.



I started scoping through the birds looking for a female with little or no
white at the base of the bill, but it was the richer brown colouration that
made her stand out when I found her. The tuft is visible most of the time.





In yard bird news, the pine siskins never did descend with last year's
constancy, and my thistle sock continues to hang unwanted. I've had siskins
pass through on a few days, and they've all gone to the main seed feeder
instead. I try my best to please, and they scorn my efforts....



The biggest hit of the year so far is definitely the suet feeder - 4 of my 5
woodpecker species dine out there, though the poor pileateds barely fit.
I've had a male Townsend's warbler dropping by almost daily since January, a
delightful flash of yellow right outside the kitchen window. I never see a
female, so I suspect it's just the one bird.



And just as I write, a bizarre first - there are three Anna's hummingbirds
at my feeder simultaneously (one male, two females), and nobody's killing
one another. I've only rarely seen two tolerate one another. The males even
seem to chase the females away most of the time.



Louise Rutter

Kirkland