Tweeters,

The past week brought in several new birds for Spring: SWAINSON'S THRUSHES
and a WILLOW FLYCATCHER, both of which started singing Saturday; a bunch
CEDAR WAXWINGS; a previously missed ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (likely here, but
not seen until yesterday); and a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE. An AMERICAN ROBIN was
feeding a newly fledged juvenile yesterday, and today I saw two (of four, I
hope) very newly hatched KILLDEER. The second nesting of this pair "took"
last year and this may be a similar occurrence.



My wife and I have been entertained by a WILSON'S SNIPE that includes our
house as part of its territory - we've seen it several times this weekend as
we've had morning coffee on the deck overlooking the wetland, and watched it
zip by over the house. Yesterday morning, it spent at least 25 minutes
winnowing around, with two of the circuits being vocalizations instead of
tail-music. This seems to be an incredible amount of energy for this bird to
spend, especially compared with some of the other species, such as Dark-Eyed
JUNCOS, that defend territory on the property. (At least two other snipe
beat their territories nearby.)



Does it seem that there are more BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS this year? I have at
least three females and eight males around almost all the time, several more
than in previous years. And the number of CLIFF SWALLOWS and SORA is
definitely lower than in previous years.



It appears that the RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) pair at the corner of the
property didn't hatch young. I've not checked on the RTHA nest across the
street to see if that has young, but will do so in the next day or so.



My next-door neighbor was weed-whacking about 30 feet from my barn door and
flushed a CALIFORNIA QUAIL. This bird likely has a nest among the
blackberries there, and was there the couple of hours my wife and I were
working nearby. My neighbor, to say the least, halted weed-whacking in that
area - we're both hoping to see chicks in the next week or so from there and
several other nest sites.



We added a new critter to the property list on Sunday: a TOWNSEND'S CHIPMUNK
- at least I think that's what it was from the posture and activity. I've
seen these down the street and also several times at nearby Fort Lewis.



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com