I started my bird day early today as I walked around the block to drain my (wife's) dog at 3am. As we walked through the cool fog past the well treed yard at the end of the block, the blurry trill of a Varied Thrush came out of the darkness - a classic Pacific Northwest sound if there ever was one.

Still a bit in re-entry mode from travels abroad (Wisconsin), I thought how much the bird sounded like a big night - calling insect of some sort. " Well Toto" I said to the dog ," I've a feeling we're not in Wisconsin anymore". He seemed a bit perplexed about who this alleged Toto might be, and what a Wisconsin was all about. And then we were walking up our back steps. "There's no place like home" I said, and with a grin and a wag, Max agreed.

Jeff Gibson
Everett Wa