hi all ... it's been an interesting past month ... the logistics of
birds in the yard are changing ...

first a flock of American Goldfinches moved in and kicked the flock
of ever-present Lesser Goldfinches out ... now all fall/winter long
the Lessers have held their own against the odd-ball single American
now and then ... but they couldn't stand up to a group ... the
Americans had their way ... currently all that is left of the
American flock are the "bachelors" as we like to call them ... 4 to 5
motley looking males seem to be constantly hanging around ... and
only a couple of Lessers now ... last year we had Lessers breeding on
or very near our place ... they raised 2 different litters of kids on
our seed sock ... I'm waiting to see if they will do that this summer ...

our resident Hermit Thrush hasn't been seen in over a week ... I'll
miss him ... he was a constant daily visitor to our suet block for
the past few months and we got use to watching out for him ... I'm
hoping he'll be back to spend next winter with us ...

our flowering cherry tree bloomed about 3 weeks earlier than it did
last year ... last year now we had the Rufus Hummingbirds all over it
!!!!! ... but that was April ... this year we haven't seen any Rufus
at all, but then with the tree past bloom they will probably not stop
... maybe I'll put a feeder out ...

we seem to have a robin hanging out in our big rhodie !!!!!! ... it's
been a couple of years since they nested in that bush ... we're
keeping an eye out to see if they'll choose it this year ...

the Juncos have seemed to thin out ... and now that the P-B suet
block isn't constantly full of Juncos the Bewick's Wren is seen more
often on it ... the Bewick use to nest in a dog kennel on our patio,
but we dismantled it this winter (and cleaned out 3 nests inside) so
I'm not sure where the Bewick will setup this year ...

no transient Warblers yet to be seen ... 2 years ago we had all kinds
... last year we only had the Yellow-butt ... they like our big Maple
... leaves are just starting to out on it so hopefully the Warblers
will notice and stop ...

our resident Fox Sparrow is still about ... dont know if he'll stay
the summer or not ... and we've noticed our Townsend Warbler is still
hanging around altho we expect him to leave shortly ... this was the
2nd winter he's spent with us ... hopefully he'll be back again next year ...

enjoy the weekend,
Lyn





Lyn Topinka
http://EnglishRiverWebsite.com
http://ColumbiaRiverImages.com
http://RidgefieldBirds.com