A few days ago, Doug Canning reported that there were a couple of new swans on Capitol Lake, in Olympia, but that the over-wintering waterfowl flocks were gone or greatly diminished. I had one of my usual winter bird walks, primarily for beginners, on Saturday, and there were very few of the birds I count on for teaching folks about categories of water birds and some of the common species. I've been doing these bird walks for several years, often one in Jan. and one in Feb., and we've always had good numbers. So where have they gone? It's way too early for them to be starting north--isn't it? Their breeding grounds are still mired in snow and ice, and migration is triggered primarily by a certain length of day--isn't it? I'm sure global warming is messing up the habits of wild animals in various ways, but the weather around here hasn't been really unusual. Does anyone have a good explanation for what' happening?

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu <mailto:guttmanb at evergreen.edu>
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503