Unable to visit favorite birding haunts in my "patch," I am instead filling the time by gardening at home with binocs at the ready. Had to put off pruning the barberry hedge, as it's currently housing a towhee and her four eggs, but otherwise the front yard has never looked better! The mob of Bushtits that habitually coated my suet just a couple of weeks ago has dispersed, leaving only the resident pair to dine in peace. Similarly, the largish flock of Pine Siskin that were regular bathers at my pond have whittled down to a single pair, who arrive every evening with both chickadees and both kinglets to bathe at a sheltered spot under an overhanging bush. A Red-breasted Sapsucker drums sporadically throughout the day from a particular maple, a wooden signpost, and, for maximum acoustic effect, on the enormous metal powerline support just beyond the backyard. Everything is aggressively singing, most notably (for me, at least) Hutton's Vireo and at least two Orange-crowned Warblers. Two days ago, my first-of-year Black-throated Gray Warbler stopped briefly in the cherry tree above the patch of shotweed I was carefully removing. Last week's Osprey and today's surprise flyover by a Caspian Tern were never birds I imagined I'd see as FOY's from the yard!
As frustrating as it is to wonder what great spring migrants I'm probably missing because of a potentially deadly virus, I'm learning that I can make do with the birds that come to me.

Jeff Bryant
Seattle
Jbryant_68 at yahoo

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