On Saturday Karen and I hiked at DNR's Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area,
after visiting the Wild Horse Wind Farm owned by Puget Sound Energy.
In addition to seeing Hedgehog Cactus and and perhaps a score of
other wildflowers in bloom in the shrub-steppe, we enjoyed several
fine encounters with birds.

Sage Thrashers were in courtship mode, and we observed this behavior
for the first time. After singing long and loud and varied from a
sagebrush perch, a male would take off on a crazy flight, back and
forth for short distances, low over the sagebrush. Upon alighting on
another bush or a fencepost, he would angle his wings steeply up for
a couple of seconds in a display.

There were six Common Ravens interacting in the air. They would
sometimes fly as a group; other times splitting off into pairs.
Their flight was acrobatic, with a lot of wheeling and diving steeply
toward the rocks below, and filled with raven shouts. It was a
seemingly joyous display for perhaps five minutes, then they flew off
as a loose group. I would appreciate any insights that fellow
birders might have into this behavior: Was it pair-bonding, family
play, or something else? How would a scientist describe it?

Finally, there were two pairs of Mountain Bluebirds hanging out and
feeding near a pair of nest boxes. That breathtaking blue of the
males is one of the visual joys of western birding!

Lee Rentz
Shelton, WA
lee at leerentz.com