Tweets, Monday midday I encountered a "flock" of Varied Thrushes
feeding/scratching in the open grass, moss, dirt, and scattered alder and
maple leaves beneath a stand of large mature conifers in Tenino City Park
near the kids' play area. I counted 20 and there almost certainly were more.
I don't recall ever seeing so many together before, especially in a spot
lacking any ground cover or understory. The ground was frozen but apparently
protected from frost by the canopy, and if the temperature was just rising
above freezing perhaps they were finding tiny critters to eat? By
comparison, the nearby open play fields were covered in hoar frost up to 1/4
inch thick. On Mull Street just east of town I counted 14 snipe feeding
along the sun-facing edge and slope adjacent to the marsh/pond, along with
numerous "puddle" ducks taking advantage of the hard-to-find open yet fairly
still, shallow water. Good birding!
-- Paul Hicks / Tenino, s. Thurston Co / phicks AT accessgrace.org