Subject: [Tweeters] new yardbird in Wedgwood
Date: Apr 3 16:44:07 2012
From: johntubbs at comcast.net - johntubbs at comcast.net




Hi everyone,



For the last three years, 'Mr. and Mrs. Mallard' have shown up in our back yard right around this time of year, taking advantage of the bird food we put out each morning.? Because of the timing during the year, the fact that it is an apparent pair, and that Mallards (and many other ducks) nest on the ground some distance from water, we have always speculated that this pair (we are assuming but of course don't know if it's the same birds each year, though that seems likely) nests somewhere nearby.? After a brief period (several weeks?) of these two showing up, they are gone again until the following year.?



One of the more entertaining aspects of their stay is that they 'swim' in the small recirculating stream we hav e in the yard.? Which is hard to do, because the pond is all of about three inches deep, so they kind of go throug h the motions of acting like they would in deeper water, feeding on algae and plopping/wading around for awhile before waddling or flying off to wherever they go.



On another yard note for today, we haven't had Band-tailed Pigeons in the yard for months now.? When I got back to the house this afternoon, there was a telltale sign that they had been here, but not one they were probably very happy about.? That sign was a pile of feathers, which included some tail feathers easily identifiable as Band-tailed's.? No doubt the immature Cooper's Hawk that has been wreaking havoc on the Siskins (mostly) over the last couple months was responsible for this.? That hawk is an immature bird that has become a highly effective hunter, very unlike some entertainingly clumsy immature birds I've watched in the past.??It has gotten ?to the point where my wife and I go out and try to scare?the hawk ?away when it shows up.? It grudgingly flies off (sometimes it just sits and glares), but usually not very far.? Several times a day it comes roaring in on a terrain and building-hugging run to catch y ard birds unawares.? It is quite frequently successful.? Our next door neighbor reported hearing a major commotion outside one day a month or so ago and found the Cooper's attempting to finish off a Flicker that it had caught.?



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net




----- Original Message -----


From: notcalm at comcast.net
To: "Ellen Blackstone" <ellen at 123imagine.net>
Cc: "Tweeters Newsgroup" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 4:20:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] new yardbird in Wedgwood


Betty White was on Jay Leno last night and talked about a Mallard that showed up one day and is living in her pool.


Dan Reiff

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellen Blackstone" <ellen at 123imagine.net>
To: "Tweeters Newsgroup" <tweeters at U.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 1:44:15 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] new yardbird in Wedgwood

Sitting in the middle of our neighbors' lawn -- a pair of Mallards.

Go figure...

Ellen Blackstone
Wedgwood, Seattle
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