I wanted to thank everyone who sent me their well-wishes and guides about
being a neophyte birder. I am now 1 week into the hobby and absolutely
loving it, thanks in some part to this list and the great discussion and
people on it! I also wanted to follow-up about my last post. It was indeed a
juvenile Anna's Hummingbird we saw. He's returned several times now and
we've gotten a better look at him. Also there's an adult of the same species
that comes by too now (although not as often).



I have some very common sightings to list, just because I feel it's
important to note what I've been seeing.



SIGHTINGS

Our backyard is now infested with finches. American Goldfinches and House
Finches seem to interact freely together and as many as 15 can be seen on
our feeders at one time. They have devoured our seed and literally sometimes
"queue" up to get to some of the feeders. I mention this because I am hoping
it might make some of you smile and think, "oh the days I was excited to see
a small group of finches"! They certainly thrill my wife and I and I hope I
never grow tired of spotting them.



We have a regular Downy Woodpecker now. He was an occasional sight before
the feeders went up, but now he comes by several times a day. Cute bird, but
doesn't seem too bright.



We have a strange relationship between our Jays and Flickers. Essentially
our Flickers do not like the Jays and vice-versa. In fact, sometimes when
our Jays show up, the Flickers come to shoo them away. They don't even eat,
they just seem content to stop our Jays from eating. The Flicker has no
problem with the Woodpecker, but no Jay can show up without a Flicker
shooing it away within 5 minutes, so much so, that the Jay just snags food
and leaves within 60 seconds, as if it knows it's not really welcome.
Strange to me, but I'm sure you vets are nodding seeing similar behavior
between species before.



A trip to Lincoln Park today revealed several pairs of Dark Eyed Juncos
feeding near the ground and near bushes. I love these birds. Also for
whatever reason Lincoln Park was just infested with Jays today, who were
making all kinds of noise and showing up just about anywhere I pointed the
binoculars. It's like they took over the park today. I love Jays, so I don't
mind, by my goodness they were noisy today! I saw a sparrow I could not
identify, because it didn't last in the lens long enough. I also saw some
kind of raptor high in the trees, I am unsure if it was the juvenile Eagle
again, or perhaps a Hawk as it was mostly covered in shadow. Identifying
birds is hard! I assume one gets better at it as time progresses?



QUESTION

Now to the topic of doves and pigeons.



We of course see Rock Pigeons all the time, mostly on phone lines or hiding
in canopies above gas stations. However at our feeder we've attracted two
sets of doves/pigeons that have taken a liking to our feeders. The first set
were huge! Really tall doves, traveling in a pack of four. I identified
these as Band-tailed Pigeon. I have some nice photos of it to cleanly
identify it. A very common sighting, but I was stunned by how big it was,
much bigger than your average Rock Pigeon! The other set I did not see, but
my wife and eldest daughter swear it was a group of Eurasian Collared Doves.
The photo I was shown was blurry, but it seemed like a match. Are these
common feeder birds in Seattle? The information I read on them online is
conflicting. Some seems to state they are rare in Washington, others seem to
say Seattle is fairly pervasive with them. It also seems weird, we're
getting two different kinds of doves/pigeons coming?



My question is, are Eurasian Collared Doves fairly common in Seattle now? I
know they are not indigenous and fairly recent arrivals, so I wanted your
opinion on the matter.



Sorry my sightings and anecdotes are not thrilling or about birds that are
rare! But I am grateful for your help and hopefully my stories are amusing
enough, taking you back to when you first fell in love with the hobby! How
new am I? Let's put it this way: my "life list" is at 16 species! J



This weekend our mission is to see some Ospreys! I've never seen them before
and as a big Seahawks fan, I think it's about time I do!