[obol] Backyard Notes from Bethany Lake, Washington Co.

[Michael Gellerman]

A few interesting things are happening around here. There has been a
Hutton's Vireo hanging out with our Lesser and American Goldfinches and
spending as many hours a day as possible sitting on the Nyger feeder. It is
pretty much unflappable short of a bombarding Starling or RW Blackbird while
the Goldfinches scatter at every shadow. A pair of Purple Finches showed up
among the very common House Finches on the sunflower feeder for a couple of
days. A lone Pine Sisken has been visiting the suet feeder. I am not sure I
have ever seen a Pine Siskin by itself. A Bewick's Wren has been on the
feeders and singing quite a bit, they have nested here rarely before.
Red-winged Blackbirds are active, singing and displaying from an hour before
dawn and the females are on the woodpecker cake all day long. I saw and
heard the first male Anna's display this year on Sunday while sitting
outside (!) having breakfast. A good loud pop right over the top of a female
that is gorging herself on the HB feeder for weeks.

Our Cooper's Hawk has taken to walking instead of hunting on the wing. It
lands in the garden and walks around and under the shrub where most of the
House Sparrows roost. I haven't seen this behavior before here, but I have
seen both Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks land next to mist nets and walk
up and kill birds in the lower tiers a few times. It is always an emotional
struggle to save a sparrow or get an angry Accipter tangled in a net if you
chase it away. This is not really an opening for some large moral discussion
on this forum unless you have taken a pissed off, badly tangled Accipter out
of a mist net.

Common Mergansers, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers and American Wigeons
persist on the pond. Despite reports of Tree Swallows all over both north
and south of here we have yet to see one. We always have a healthy
population of Tree, Cliff, and Barn Swallows with a smattering of
Violet-greens, but none of them typically arrive in our corner until
mid-March. We also have Vaux Swifts nest in our chimney every year, so
dinner by the fireside will end before too long.

There was a big Gray Fox wandering around in the backyard before dawn this
morning, an opossum wandering through the yard in the middle of the day last
week, and the return of the River Otters. A Nutria family has spent the
winter but I have not seen our Beaver, Coyote or Bobcat yet.

Mike Gellerman
Bethany Lake, Washington Co.
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