I spent a couple of hours birding at Black Lake Meadows in southwestern Olympia this morning. This site used to be fairly popular with birders, but doesn?t seem to get much attention these days. Best bird of the morning was a saw-whet owl, which was roosting in a dense holly tree. My attention was drawn to it by a lingering flock of 15-20 kinglets (both species) and chestnut-backed chickadees that were scolding incessantly. A little further investigation revealed the owl. When I came back an hour later, the cast of scolders had changed to white-crowned sparrows, bushtits, and juncos in a similar-sized group. Other noteworthy sightings during the morning were 5 wood ducks, 2 Wilson's snipe, a mourning dove, 6 probable violet-green swallows, and unusually large numbers of ruby-crowned kinglets.

Gary Wiles
Olympia, WA
wilesharkey at yahoo.com