Tuesday's heat in Kalama gave me an opportunity to sit on the shady porch
and watch out for birds I "know" are in our yard, but haven't seen yet this
spring. The Brown Creeper has been singing, but remains hidden among the
Doug Fir boughs.



While searching for the LBB, I saw another bird fly catching from the firs.
It was black and very woodpecker-looking. But it was.fly catching. I pulled
out my binocs to be sure. Yep, it was in fact the RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER
I've been looking for. Pretty cool for me, since I've never observed that
behavior before. Naturally, he finished his hunt before I could get the
camera set up on a tripod. Even so, I was happy to note that he has stayed
on the property.



When we moved here late last spring, I noted the large numbers of
Violet-green Swallows swooping over the neighbor's pasture. I decided that I
would try to lure a few of them to our yard this year to help keep mosquito
bites at a minimum. We installed two swallow houses in late February in two
different spots. By the first week of May, we still had no takers. I went
out of town for a week, and voila! We now have two families of VIOLET-GREEN
SWALLOWS living in our yard! Next year, I hope to add to the colony.



The RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS have picked up their pace at both our nectar
feeders. They favor the one sheltered on the porch. It holds about 18
ounces, which lately lasts only about 36 hours. In May, I shot a video
through the window of four Rufous fighting over that feeder. Due to flickr's
limits, the video is only 90 seconds long. I slowed down one sequence so you
can see the male ambushing the female and knocking her off the feeder. The
whole confrontation lasted less than two minutes. Link to video on my flickr
page is here: http://flic.kr/p/eDu2SW



Amy Hill

Kalama, WA

628 feet up in Cowlitz County

60 stops 2 home at kalama dot com

artlessfun at yahoo dot com