At least over here in this Eastgate (Bellevue S of 90) yard and after an
incredible hummingbird summer, especially the past three weeks or so, RUFOUS
HUMMINGBIRDS have pretty much wrapped up their stay and appear to have
moved on leaving just the usual 6-8 or so resident Anna's. There were days
these past few weeks where 20-30 Rufous were a constant buzz and drain on the
feeder line each and every day all day long. Especially the big one
(4-cupper) that hangs from the upper roof overhang in front of the large 2nd
floor front picture window above the car port which had to be refilled every
few days as the hummers swarmed all over it, thumping into the window at
times, but always bouncing off seemingly unharmed. Suddenly, August 14, the
Rufous all but disappared with but one bird and only one once briefly
yesterday (Aug 15). So, it looks like the show is pretty much over for 2011 and
time for things to settle down leaving just the ever present dawn to dusk
Anna's through the days ahead and coming winter. There should still be a
few now and then to straggle through into September, maybe very very early
October (Opperman, 2003), but for now by and large, the party seems to be
over. I don't know how many gallons of 1:4 sugar:water concoction I've gone
through, but it's been a lot!

PILEATED WOODPECKERS have put in a good summer as well. As usual, July is
the month, and this year, August too, the area resident pair of many years
now, like clockwork, bring their fledgling young to the small block suet
feeder placed about 10 feet up on the trunk of a large Douglas Fir. This
family of Pileateds plus the Flickers and a increasingly regular Hairy just
about eat me out of house and home come mid-summer and really crave those
rather expensive $5 blocks of Cascade summer cakes from WBU over anything
else which they completely devour every two to three days! Spending $5 every
2-3 days on a family of Pileated Woodpeckers in these unsettled economic
times is strictly a 'first world' problem that kind of makes me cringe if
not feel a bit guilty, but I skimp elsewhere in my personal budget to make
up, it's worth it, and life goes on. I know it's the same pair, or at least
the same adult male year after year as it sports a silver aluminum band on
it's left leg and this individual has been a summer regular for perhaps ten
years now, perhaps one banded in an Eastgate park study and banding
operation some years ago.

It's easy to know when they are coming when still 2-3 blocks away as their
loud 'tooting' that drowns out everything else of the moment ALWAYS
announces immanent arrival. This summer when not on the suet block, the whole
family had taken to a dead 75' tall hemlock on the precipitously steep
stream bank / greenbelt in the corner of the yard where they'd stay put for up
to an hour or more at a time chipping, picking, and pounding away, off and
on, back and forth, back and forth, all day long. This routine went on for
a good three weeks until I started getting seriously nervous about the
integrity of the tree with it's ever deepening notches and fear it had become
quite dangerous, could fall any moment, and for sure would likely blow down
come winter. So, Friday, from a ladder no less, we just cut it down ... an
incredibly dangerous undertaking for someone not a logger or tree expert
that could have gone horribly wrong; put a starter cut into it for a few
seconds with a chain saw not quite opposite one of the deep hacked out
woodpecker notches so that it would (hopefully) fall away in a precise targeted
spot and minimize damage to various rhodies, huckleberry, salmonberry, and
other trees, shrubs, ferns, etc. along the bank and stream below. Scary, but
down it went, perfect placement! Left behind, a ten-foot high stump
intended at leaving the Pileateds with still something to chew on. And so it
was; come Saturday, they were back and seemed to be undeterred and happier
than ever with easy access to whatever the innards of that tree had so
captured their tireless unyielding attention. And if just the trunk isn't
enough, there's that nice log now lying on the ground below that they continue to
pick around on.

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA