Subject: [Tweeters] Migration surprises
Date: Oct 3 12:10:23 2011
From: Gayle Benton - gbenton at rockisland.com


Hi Tweets,
Had to share my interesting day yesterday. I live on Orcas Island at 900 feet and have a small fenced in area that I've planted with mostly native plants. There is a small built-in- the-ground bird bath or pond and several feeders on the property. I can, and do, most days, monitor my yard for several hours each day and it is usually very busy birdwise. It has been pretty quiet the last week or so with just the usual resident birds, juncoes, nuthatches, towees, chickadees, hairys, flickers, and jays visiting the pond. Yesterday, however, I had some interesting birds passing thru. At one point in time, there was a trio of adult male birds that were bathing at the same time. A Varied Thrush, Evening Grosbeak and Red-breasted Sapsucker. Oh, for a photo! I also had a 5 sparrow day - White-crowned, Golden-crowned, Fox, Song, and White-throated Sparrows. Plus a Slate-colored Juncoe was present for the 2nd time in the last couple days. Today is again quiet, but I keep watching.
Gayle Benton
Eastsound, Wa