Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit yard birds, House Finches
Date: Sun Apr 19 09:33:26 PDT 2020
From: Faye McAdams Hands - zest4parus at hotmail.com

Thank you for your post Gary! I really enjoyed every bit.

Although I am reveling in the dry and warm (not entirely chilly) weather, I have been concerned about the returning Cliff Swallows at Theler not having any building materials as the puddles have completely dried up! I have been carrying water over the last 4 days to try and keep at least two mud holes going for them. Perhaps too little too late.
I check on them every day now. (Luckily only .8 mile from my house).
Happy Birding,
Faye Hands
Belfair, WA


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________________________________
From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2020 6:31:58 PM
To: Tweeters Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit yard birds, House Finches

Dear Tweeters,

"February me" told "April me" not to say it--but this balmy weather is getting boring! I am actually hoping for a rain squall to come in and mix things up for better birding. Field puddles are drying up. There are fewer and fewer water birds in the swales around my place--too dry!

Lately I have been alternating between birding under-birded Upriver spots, and staying at home. I feel very lucky to live in a bucolic spot with so many birds, fortunate to have the ability to grow a lot of my own food. However, I tried planting some toilet paper in the ground, and it just wouldn't germinate, so there is that little problem...

To the birds. We have House Finches as always--they are one of the small handful of birds that stay at my feeders year-round, along with Red-winged Blackbirds, House Sparrows, Steller's Jays, and a few others. There are at least two pairs of House Finches here now. I have never undertaken any serious attempt to view their nest, but in breeding season, House Finch pairs always make trips in and out of a little ornamental cedar or arbor-vitae type shrub along our west fence-line. They have begun visiting it lately. This winter, Purple Finches were scarce in Skagit County, but a pair has just begun showing up here every day, as are American Goldfinches. I've seen Evening Grosbeaks around the neighborhood, but they haven't visited my feeders much of yet. We also see a few occasional Pine Siskins.

Barn Swallows have bred in our old barn most years. The last few days, Barn Swallows have been here, foraging over the fields, so I hope they stay. Violet-green Swallows have been making visits to some of my bird-houses, but House Sparrows have some of them already under their control. I just don't have the heart to go out there and evict the Passers, so there they shall stay. Today I did clean out one old store-bought bird-house; it had been full to bursting with old House Sparrow nesting material. I removed this nesting box from a fencepost, cleaned it out, and nailed it on a utility pole out by the road; maybe the Violet-greens or the Tree Swallows will use it. Some years, Violet-greens have bred in the eaves of our house. I don't like that, because they make a mess, but I let them. This year, they are checking out our bird-houses. The Tree Swallows are few this year, but they are looking at bird-houses, too. I remember one year when they nested in one of my bird-houses, and then we had an April snow that killed the female. She was frozen to death inside the bird-house when I found her. I don't think we'll get any more of that kind of weather this season.

Audubon's Warblers are singing in the trees along Etach Slough, close by. Common Yellowthroats are singing from hedgerows sometimes, but absent other days; I'm not sure if they're just passing by, or getting ready to stay. Savannah Sparrows are singing from my fenceposts daily, and Song Sparrows in the brush by the barn. White-crowned Sparrows are singing, too. Most of the Golden-crowned Sparrows that we've had all winter--I assume they're the same birds--are looking spiffy now. They are still visiting the feeders. I expect that we will get a Chipping Sparrow or two passing through, any day now.

The comings and goings of the Barn Owl in our barn continue to mystify me. Sometimes there is one, or even two or three, in plain sight, but other times the owls disappear for days or weeks at a time. I can't figure out if they just go into their nest box and stay there, or if they visit other structures. I try not to disturb them when I do see them, so that they might stay and nest, as they have before. The owl-pellet guy who used to collect pellets here told me that he thought they rotated from building to building, including spending time at a big old industrial building at the mill just south of here.

At the feeders, I have been seeing a Band-tailed Pigeon or two lately, but my feeders are fairly small. The poor pigeons have a hard time finding a foothold. Eurasian-collared Doves are here every day without fail. For some reason, I keep seeing three of them, chasing one another around. Maybe it's a female and two males? Or vice-versa. Hard to tell.

It always amazes me to hear from other Tweeters who write in about their lowland breeding juncos. In my neck of the woods, the juncos almost all head for the hills, come breeding season. The big winter flock is now down to about six to eight birds at my feeders, although we had upwards of twenty at times in the winter. Farther up the valley, they do seem to breed here and there in low-elevation spots. They also apparently breed in a few places in western Skagit, but in the Cockreham Island area, they are not in evidence after spring, unless one goes uphill.

Any day now, there should be an Osprey flying over, and a Black-throated Grey Warbler in the birch tree, and a Vaux's Swift...and who knows what else.

Good birding to all Tweeters, and stay well.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch
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