Dear Tweets;

Ashamedly, I did not keep the bird bath clean this winter. Usually, I
would add water to the frozen bath and keep it clean. I finally
cleaned the bird bath and much to my surprise within 10 minutes there
was a Golden Crowned Kinglet amongst a variety of
Brown backed Chickadees and three other Chickadee sized grey birds
visiting the bath each taking its turn. The Golden Crowned Kinglet
really
had a hard time waiting his turn for the bath. He sat very near the
bathing Chickadee and peered at him from branches above the
bath hopping back and forth above the bathing Chickadee, as if to
say......Hurry up! After the group of small birds left the bath there
were
Varied Thrush that hopped around the underbrush very near the bath.

A flock of over 35 Crows swarmed the trees above my yard. This is the
second day in a row this large flock has appeared. There are normally
two
to three at the least normal visitors and as many as six at any given
time but never an entire flock. There were a few characteristic calls
from within
the group that I recognized as normal visitors to this area. There
is one Crow that I have not heard this winter who has a call that is
very quiet and low
and sounding much like a frog. This crows' call is distinguished as
more of a croak than a Kaw Kaw Kaw. The group of 35 split into three
or four groups
with the most frequented visitors pairing off into the trees in
threes, fighting with one another and gathering sticks.




Michelle
Yelm
Thurston County
yelmbackyard at gmail.com