Redpoll

From 2013, The invasion of the redpolls is on

Another day, so much less clutter

Eagles gather on the Eagle in Dutch Harbor Alaska. Photo Max Viau

Deplorable

 

Michael GungorVerified account‏@michaelgungor

If you supply a lynch mob with a rope, you are complicit in the lynching. If you support a racist with a vote, you are complicit in racism.

Ringo Starr's SON is 51 years old

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Owl house is a very, very fine house …

In place and ready for occupants the very next day.

With apologies to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, look what I built. I had been thinking about it for several years and finally did something about it a couple of days ago, hit the lumber yard and built it yesterday.

I might be a little late already but I am going to give it a try. The drill motor battery didn't have enough oomph left to generate the torque necessary to make that 4-inch circular blade cut or I would be finished by now. Just have to cut the hole and paint and mount it in a tree. Then I can wait to see if it lures an owl. Might have to wait for next year.

Later that same day.

It might be a little bigger than necessary. Around here I could expect boreal or Saw whet owls which are tiny and this is designed for the next size up which would be a western screech owl. I figured the little ones could get into this nesting box, but the screech owl couldn't get into the smaller one. We'll see what happens.

I'm kind of hoping I don't get a saw whet owl. Years ago in another town, I heard this strange call from the woods, a constant beep beep beep going on for hours. With a little research I learned it was a saw whet owl, but also that their range extended only as far north as southeastern Alaska. I lived 500 miles from there and it hit me that this little guy might have been hooting the loneliest bachelor call in the world being he was so far from the nearest female. The beeping grew old in a hurry. That constant toot toot toot kept me awake at night, irritated me before I fully woke up in the morning and just kept going on and on. I thought this might be a substitute for waterboarding. I could do without one beeping in my backyard here. Just to show you what I mean, here's a clip of that sound: (In reality the calls are a lot louder than this.)



To tell the truth though I would be happy with any type of owl that chooses to reside and perhaps nest and raise young in this fancy new condo. You could call it affordable housing even. Watch this space.

These are the dimensions in case anyone is interested. The smaller one is about an inch shorter all the way around and has a 3-inch entry hole. Plan is from the 50birds.com website.

I think my all-time favorite sighting, and this has happened more than once, occurs at the East Pole. Looking down the hill at night, a full moon casting shadows across sparkling snow and among the trees a great horned owl glides on silent wings pursuing his nightly hunt.

Owl be seeing you in the polar vortex

Scarecrows dressed in the latest style

You don't bother me at all.

Stylish or not, I don't think this fake owl is nearly as frightening as it is supposed to be. It certainly didn't deter that female Pine grosbeak when she paused for a breather.

Actually she and her mate who have been hanging around all summer seem pretty fearless, owl or not. I think they are nesting in the big spruce at the back of the house. One or both stop by just about every day and poke about in the yard, still finding spilled sunflower seeds left over from winter.

They are pretty cavalier even about me. I have walked to within a couple of feet of them and sometimes they will just stay put or at the most flutter off a few feet and go back about their business. I kind of like them hanging around giving me company while I work in the garden, my two friends. They don't demand much.

I do worry a little about the neighbor's cat that wanders into the yard fairly regularly though. I have seen the remains of a few birds over the years that I am pretty sure that cat killed. I chase him when I see him and following a suggestion from a woman gardener, after dark I play wolf and mark my territory around the garden which seems to keep him away. Maybe it will help protect the birds as well.

I'm expecting to see young ones any day now and if they get to the ground before they can fly well and before they gain some protective fear, they would make easy pickings for the cat. I look at the BB gun in the closet and wonder, but I am pretty sure if I shot it, there would be a row in the neighborhood.

Maybe I need to dress a scare-cat in the latest style.

It's about all the Pine grosbeaks in Southcentral Alaska this year

Pine grosbeak male

I've been having quite a conversation today about Pine grosbeaks. Yes, I know, like counting flowers on the wall.  So what?

For starters, I have noticed larger numbers of the grosbeaks around the feeders this year. It's not exactly the attack of the Redpolls like a couple of years ago but where i might see one or two a couple of times a week, this year I have seen as many as a dozen several times, and there are always a few around the feeders. A friend in Seward said today she has had as many as 200 in her yard, but she has mountain ash with the berries a lot of these birds like.

Pine grosbeak female

With that in mind a post showed up on the Birds of Alaska Facebook page with two pictures of grosbeaks, one an obvious female with the subdued orange and olive colors and another with those colors but right red on its head. The poster asked why the difference in colors. After no one posted an answer for more than four hours,  I chimed in with this:

I have read that juvenile male grosbeaks are colored like females well into the first winter and begin to show the red as spring approaches. The one on the right is probably a male going through puberty. lol

Almost immediately another person posted this:

Photo by Alysse Zimmerman

Immature male Pine grosbeak posted on Facebook.

 You are correct Tim! I found a picture of a juvenile male on Google

With that issue settled, I thought I would share my thoughts about numbers and posted this:

I am curious. I have seen more pine grosbeaks at my feeders this year than any time in the past 10 years. I have also noticed a lot more pictures of them on this page and a lot more people reporting larger groups of the birds. Anybody have an idea why there are so many this year? Might it have something to do with the unusual winter? Higher survival maybe?

Fairly quickly another responder wrote: 

I seem to get a handful each winter but this winter has been greater than normal. Have had large numbers at our place a half dozen winters in the 35 years we have lived in this house. My theory is that their natural foods are in short supply during the years when they are fairly common. There also seems to be more crossbills around this winter but I see that as the Spruce Trees have a bumper crop of cones. So its feast or famine depending on the species we are talking about.

I added this: 

This from the Cornellab page: During most of the year, 99% of diet is vegetable matter, especially buds, seeds, and fruits of spruce, pine, juniper, elm, maple, mountain ash, apple, and crabapple. It feeds insects and spiders to its young, though, often mixed with plant foods. It drinks water or eats snow daily. I thought of the food supply too, but with low snow cover it seems like there would be plenty for them.

A bunch of "likes went back and forth after that and then it looks like everybody moved on.

So, I posted this:

The ( Cornell Lab) page mentions irregular irruptions where flocks will show up pretty far south. Maybe this year they think they are in British Columbia.  

You have to wonder.

Cornell Lab All About Birds Pine grosbeak page

Owl be seeing you in the polar vortex

Updated Jan. 21, 2015, April 19, 2014

OK, here goes. Wacko theory No. 8,634.

Much of the eastern United States suffered some heavy winter weather this year, largely blamed on something called the polar vortex. That is a combining of elements involving the jet stream the positioning of high pressure centers in the cold north and warmer weather far offshore to the south. In my limited knowledge I don't think it's fair of me to explain it much beyond that.  However there will be links below to places that will.

Earlier in the winter, in November and December, people began spotting snowy owls way south of their usual habitat. Normally they nest in Arctic regions and migrate south for the winter but generally stay north of 60 degrees latitude.  Anchorage, Alaska is at about 60 North. This year there were sightings throughout the midwest and as far east and south as Virginia. It struck me that these two events might have something in common.

I remember suggesting to one friend she overlay a map of the vortex onto a map owl sightings, but I never heard back. So, today I gave it a try and look what I came up with. The map on the left below is of the vortex; the one on the right is snowy owl sightings in November and December. Coincidence? Ha, I don't think so. Of course there are exceptions but it sure looks like the snowy owls congregated just where the vortex was gong to show up later.

One blast from the polar vortex on AccuWeather.

Snowy owl sighting reports on eBird.

Now, taking it a step further, could the snowy owl migration pattern have been a harbinger of the polar vortex that was about to slam the eastern United States.  Could they be the wooly bear caterpillars of the bird world?

Years ago I read an article in Sports Illustrated magazine written during the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline. In it the author wrote of his fascination with bananas on a dining hall table on the Arctic Coast of Alaska. He noted that in nature when an animal appears far outside its normal habitat, it's an indication the herd is in trouble. And then he's looking at humans and bananas in the Arctic and wondering if our herd was in trouble.

Were the owls such a warning? Is the snowy owl in trouble for some reason? Was there a low point in their normal prey species? Were they just trying to be friendly alarmists to warn people of the coming harsh winter? What else could be going on? One would take a whole new wacky theory and I am only good for one a day. But consider this, Alaska is in the weather path for winds to bring radiation from Japan. Ponder that one for a while. Meanwhile I am sticking with the owls simply going where they were most comfortable, and willing to go so far as to guess they have some indicator that helps them anticipate what winter is going to do and they act accordingly.

The point here, though, is not the speculation about why it happened or theories about motivation. The point is simply the observation that snowy owls showed up ahead of time in the same areas where the polar vortex later brought its storms.

But we have a warning for those folks on the East Coast. We are going to be wanting our owls back, and soon.

A BIT OF AN UPDATE: Some comments have shown up, several saying the change in migration is due to a change in prey species. One said voles were down in the Arctic while another blamed a decline in the lemming population. That makes sense. That, however doesn't change the basic premise pointing out the correlation between the owl migration and the location of the polar vortex. Perhaps it's the lemmings or voles that signal the change in weather pattern. There a couple of new links to articles about the phenomenon below.

ANOTHER UPDATE: That snowy owl a commenter on here mentioned, the one who was rescued after it was hit by a bus in Washington, D.C., was scheduled to be released today (4/19) in northern Minnesota. Here's that story. There were other rescues, too, at least two, one in Cleveland and another in Portland, Oregon.

Graphic credits: Polar vortex: Accuweather.com; owl spottings: eBird.com; snowy owl photo: Wikkipedia


Another version from Alaska Dispatch News 12/10/16

It's happening again in 2015

Audubon magazine article on the snowy owl irruption

New York Times: Snowy owl a harbinger of climate change?

Snowy owl

Snowy owl migration 2013, eBird

NASA animated depiction of the winter's polar vortex

What's a polar vortex?

What's good for the goose …

Snow geese and Canada geese (background) gather in a field  left uncovered by spring near Pioneer Peak

With overnight snow in the forecast for the next few days, winter still clings to the landscape like a puppy who won't let go of the rope.  But winter is losing as temperatures rise and more of those spring signs show up daily.  Although the flights must have been in progress, I hadn’t noticed a wedge of geese until maybe a week ago.

Snow geese begin to encroach into Canada territory.

Then driving out of town yesterday I noticed a line of cars parked along the roadside just near the farm right at the edge of the residential area.

White spots against the sandy tan background of a fallow field had drawn the attention of passersby and I pulled over as well.  Snow geese and Canada geese were picking their way through the field very close to the road, much to the delight of folks who stopped.

I made the photograph at the tip with my iPhone, took a few more and just before I left I spotted a fellow with his daughter of 3 or 4 attempting to take one of those long-armed self portraits of the two of them so I offered to take one for them with their camera.  I hope it came out, glare was so bad it was difficult to see on their phone's screen.

Diversity in the goose world.  I only saw one little dust up.

Upon waking today I looked at the photo on my facebook page and decided it was too fuzzy (camera shake in an old guy's hands) and with the sun coming out wrestled with the idea of going back with a real camera, wrestled at least until I realized there would be no more sleep until I did.

Of course, when I reached the field the geese had moved way back from the road and the closest approach (it is private land with a healthy fence around it) would not have the mountain in the background.  Still  a sharp picture was worth making and I did.

A flight of geese approaches the field.

As I was preparing to leave I drove back to where I had taken the picture the previous day, thinking white spots way off in the field with the mountain in sunlight might still make a good photo.  But  before I could get the car in position and get out, all together the snow geese rose from the field, formed a loosely organized wedge and flew off toward the mountain. They didn't circle like birds will do when they are disturbed by something. looking to come back and land once it's safe. Those birds were going somewhere. Oddly, none of the Canada geese flew way, but continued pecking about in the field. What trigger had signaled all the white geese to take off in the same direction at the same time?  Obviously nothing had frightened them into flight or all the geese would have taken off.  But something basic had sparked all the snow geese to rise at once and leave while their darker cousins couldn't have cared less.

By the time I recovered from that thought process enough to remember the camera in my hands, the snow geese had disappeared into the white of the mountain background leaving me and maybe a Canada goose or two to wonder what the heck caused that.

Snow geese not long before the big takeoff.

Those redpolls are still at it

The day after I emptied my 10th 40-pound bag of sunflower seeds this winter I received this email:

We've got your friend Cheryl.

Bring 500 pounds of hulled sunflower seeds (no fillers) in unmarked 5-pound plastic bags or the Texan gets it.

The Redpolls


Frantically bagging seeds now to save my friend.

Enough redpolls yet?

The invasion of the redpolls is on!

The poll of polls

An individual redpoll.

And this one's red.  These pictures might give a little indication why the birds have gone through about 75 pounds of seeds this winter and it's only the middle of January.  This group is made up of common redpolls and they fly in clouds.  I would guess I have had as many as 100 in the yard at one time.  They tend to push the other birds out of the way but amid the flock there are always the usual chickadees, nuthatches and grosbeaks.

Gathering at the sunflower hearts feeder.

Some snow finally fell, too.  So, it's beginning to look a lot more like winter, after about two weeks of bare, brown ground.

So, the poll.  How many redpolls do you count in the photo at the bottom, the big one.  Those are thistle seeds they are fighting over.

This is the contest. How many redpolls do you see.

Winner gets to buy the next bag of thistle seeds with their thank you.

How much wood could a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker could peck wood

 Ten below zero today but still had a new visitor.  Well, not new, but he stuck around today and I went outside and stalked a little.  It is either a hairy or a three-toed woodpecker.  They look very much alike.  I noticed on the earlier shots with the downy on the feeder and now this one, look how they stabilize their position on the tree with their tail feathers.

Here's a gallery of more shots of this one today plus others that have visited this winter so far.

On an unrelated note: There's a new gadget on this blog at the bottom of this column.  Take a look and if you want to see whose writing yours resembles, click the link.  I am all OK with who I resemble.  My friend who writes a lot of nonfiction wildlife and adventure books, got Rudyard Kipling.  See what yours is like and post it as a comment.

And now for the weather report

Checking the menu.

Apologies for several days of political rants.  Back, now, to Alaska.  For a couple of weeks it's been clear and pretty cold, some nights into the single digits. Monday night we had a dusting of snow, enough to cover the ground and cold enough to stick.  That meant, late Tuesday afternoon the bird feeders went out.  By midday one looked half full and this morning it had been emptied.  Fortunately yesterday I made a stop at the feed store and picked up $50 worth of black sunflower seeds and sunflower chips.  Most likely that won't last the winter.

Excuse me, dining here!

Bunches of chickadees and nuthatches have shown up at the feeders and today the first Pine grosbeak (female) arrived.  Then later a new species came in and poked around for several minutes.  I had heard some rapping on the house walls earlier and it was not as sharp or as loud as the hairy woodpeckers make.  Then a downy woodpecker perched at the feeder and I am guessing this was the one testing the T-111.  This was the first confirmed downy I have seen although I know they have been around.  Maybe it is time to start a picture window life list.   My son and I had this one years ago.

All right then. I'm outta here.

So, with the birds back and snow on the ground, be prepared for more bird updates on here and fewer political rants.  Also practicing with the new pellet rifle in case the squirrels come back or one more Republican shows up at my door and tries to get me to vote for that liar. At least after next Tuesday, no more rants for a while, or maybe not.  I do like birds better than politicians.  But birds are calming, it takes a politician to get the blood boiling.

A new contest

OK, this one isn't as easy. I counted 25 of them around the feeders this morning before I lost track. Anyway, how many pine grosbeaks in this photo? Thinking up what might be a suitable prize for a correct answer.

One time years ago at Alaska magazine, we accidentally used a photograph of a taxidermist's mount of two ptarmigan in a calendar. A wildlife photographer pointed out the mistake and we were suitably embarrassed. But, I wrote back to the photographer under the pseudonym Augustus Birch-Alder explaining to him that the person he wrote to was unavailable because we needed a photograph of a herd of caribou and it was getting damned hard to find 1,000 full mounts of caribou to arrange for the picture.

But we used to get a kick out of counting and then writing in the captions there are X number of something in this photo and imagining readers trying to find them all. We were always tempted to add one to the number just to get people going a little, but as far as I know it never happened.

So, how many pine grosbeaks? I told you this one isn't as easy. (And the shadow doesn't count.)

Two, two, two posts for the price of one

Busy day at the feeders today. At one point I counted 20 pine grosbeaks and then kind of lost track. And, now redpolls are showing up in greater and greater numbers. The feeder full of thistle seeds has gone untouched for as long as it has been up. That was until today when the redpolls discovered it. There really was a crowd out there. Oh and as promised got out on the lighted side of them today. I figured out a perfect blind and if we ever get a sunny day again, I am looking forward to some good pictures. Love me, love my birds lol.

The Alaska red sled

These days they come in many shapes and sizes and colors. For instance this one is black, but they are all red sleds. That's because when there were made originally they were almost all red, well maybe some were orange. They are those short plastic kids' sleds with a raised side all the way around. They may have been intended for kids, but everyone in the Bush has one at least. Even Iditarod mushers carry them for moving equipment and food around at checkpoints.

They are the third arm, the extra muscle, the smoother trail, the easier going in life where moving around can be tough and moving things around even tougher. You haul chunks of firewood from the pile to the cabin. You bring your groceries up the hill with one when the machine won't make it. You can fit at least two five-gallon containers into the sled when you go to the lake for water. They don't haul huge loads but they haul enough to make life just a little bit easier. I probably own four or five of them but they are all at the East Pole. My trick is to buy two of them, then I fit one inside the other and run eye bolts through both to hold them together and provide places to hook bungee cords. That makes them tougher and they last longer. Today I needed one or at least thought it would come in handy, and I don't have one at this house.

See? Wednesday night I managed to get the little car stuck at the end of the driveway. I just left it there. Yesterday spent about two hours with a shovel or two and couldn't get it out of there no way no how. Went out again this morning and same thing, nothing would let it move. Plus, this morning there were snowflakes the size of pillows which almost led to panic. I mean, I do have to go to work tomorrow. If snow fell like that for very long the car would be there until spring. I kept looking it over to see if maybe I could at least get the Jeep past it somehow. I finally blasted through the dingweeeds and got the Jeep out, then I hooked up to the little car and yanked it out. Then I backed it up, straightened it out and blasted up the driveway as far as it would go -- not far, but far enough so I could park the Jeep behind it and both would be off the road.

Then, after a brief respite I took off in the Jeep to buy groceries. On the way I got to thinking I wished I had a red sled to haul the groceries up the driveway from the Jeep to the house. Now this takes some explanation of Bush mentality. In the Bush when you have a task to do and you don't have the right equipment, you don't think, "well, I'll just go to the store and get it." Mostly you can't go to the store just on a whim. Even if you do it will take at least most of a day. So, you think through what you have that might get the job done. You make do.

As I was thinking through what I might have that I could load with groceries and pull up the driveway all of a sudden a revelation came over me. Wow! I am going to a store that sells red sleds. OMG! I can buy one! Now isn't that something? The problem is, I didn't see the display of simple little red sleds near one of the entries until I was heading out the door with this $35 monstrosity. A bit of overkill but I have decided I am worth it, or at least I am getting old enough to accept a little help when I can find it.

And, just as a side note, I don't want any crap about all those plastic bags. I have several of the reusable ones you buy at the store. But. And, don't you wish you could use this excuse? I LEFT THEM IN MY OTHER CAR.

Oh and look who showed up at the feeder tonight to let me know I forgot to buy bird food.

A very chickadee Thanksgiving

A few friends flew in for the holiday. And, oh yes, the woodpecker came by for the first visit of the year that I know of. Also had a couple of merlins hanging out in the trees looking for a meal I hope they don't get. May everyone feel the day and enjoy it as much as my guests seem to.

A most peculiar sight

It has turned cold. Around zero yesterday and now minus 10. With open water on the river that generally means fog. In the river bed yesterday a single low white cloud of fog filled the basin from shore to shore and it looked like from the glacier to the ocean. The whole river appeared to be covered in pillows or one big one, anyway. It was quite a sight especially looking down on it from the elevation of the bridge, all white in the shades of gray world of winter. In another existence you might have been able to jump off the bridge and bounce in soft comfort.

And today? A grouse at the feeders, all puffed out for warmth.

And, discovered a difference between generations. I remember thinking I wished i had a camera with me. About five miles farther on I looked at the iPhone that was feeding Lady Gaga into my car stereo. Duh. Kidding about it at work we came to the conclusion that those older among us have a telephone that also can take pictures. Those younger have a camera and stereo that, oh, also is a telephone.

A whole new take on Angry Birds

All the feeders out now and it wasn't an hour before one of them was down to 2/3 full. You can have your Angry Birds. I'll take my hungry birds any time. But, um, maybe not the expensive birds. I've joked in the past how fast they go through the feed I buy, but this year I learned a whole new lesson in bird feeding.

 A couple of the old feeders needed replacing and I thought maybe adding a couple would be nice as well so have been looking for the past few weeks at various stores with some specific kinds in mind. I found some but others weren't available and I was beginning to think about making my own. I went to one last place, kind of the high end of pet supplies and bird seed and feeders.

 They had quite a selection and as I looked through it, I came across one that was on sale for $110. One hundred ten dollars American! I laughed, Who the heck would ever pay $100 for a bird feeder? I found three I liked plus a hanging device and, oh what the heck, one of those silhouettes of a raptor that are meant to warn birds away from windows. And, oh yeah, a bag of thistle seed.

 In a hurry to get to work, i hustled to the checkout and put them down for the cashier. She totaled it all up and very calmly as if this were an everyday occurrence said to me in the sweetest voice: one hundred twenty six dollars. I just about fainted. Very silently I paid for all this, right at that moment not sure these birds were worth that. Still regretting the amount, I put all those feeders out yesterday and filled them with seed that of course I am gong to have to replace at more great expense wondering again was this really worth it.

Then the first chickadee landed on the first one even before I had the second one filled and I started to feel a little better about it. But, today, I am programming a video game to challenge Angry Birds. It is called Hungry Birds and basically you start with a million dollars and start feeding birds. They find increasingly devious ways to get you to spend money on them until at about the 20th level you are broke. No human can win this game.

Pixie dust

Stepped out yesterday into a sparkling world. Everywhere in the air little bright spots floated. Bright sunshine meant it wasn’t snowing and though it was cold, it wasn’t ice fog and sundog cold. It seemed to be going on for no particular reason until I saw a bird fly out of a tree heading for one of the feeders. We had had a light snowfall of that cold, tiny flaked type over night and when the bird took off it sent a bunch of it flying off the branch into the air. The flakes were so small and so light they drifted in the air for a time and reflected the sunlight. Given there were several birds flitting from the trees to the feeders and probably a couple of squirrels running around, a considerable amount of snow was thrown into the air and created this little storm of sparkle in the yard. Or maybe it was pixies after all, and they are the cause of all the mystery. Watching the trees for a sign of Tinkerbell, but the way the rest of the day went I doubt I received any pixie dust from her.

Birds and boys

You just never know what sort of influence you might be having on your kids and of course they are never going to tell you, but I realized one tonight and it was a pretty good one.

A friend of mine wrote a nice, thoughtful piece in the paper tonight about his young son’s encounter with a flock of Bohemian waxwings in the past week. It reminded me of my own son’s adventures with birds or at least my efforts to encourage some adventures and I thought maybe it would be an idea for my friend to try.

In the house my son and I shared every other week for seven years we had huge picture windows that overlooked a large woodland. Of course there were birds, a wide variety and we put out feeders for them. There were enough different species that I suggested we keep a life list. I called it “Our extra special picture window life list” and we taped it to the glass. The rule was we both had to see the bird and we had to identify it exactly, no “little brown chippies.” Over the next few years we added to that list often. Once in a while I would take it down and type the new ones into the computer to replace the handwritten ones and then tape it back up. That windowsill was always cluttered with bird identification books and binoculars.

Our favorites were the Steller’s jays who came to the deck for the peanuts we put out for them. They came every day in winter, often in gangs. One day we counted 13 on the deck and in the nearby trees waiting for their turn to swoop in for a peanut. We even recognized a few individuals. One we called Tank was noticeably bigger than the others and we swore the house shook when he landed. There was a day, too, when I hadn’t put any peanuts out yet. I heard a tapping on the window and when I went to look there was a jay perched on the back of a deck chair pecking at the window, demanding nuts.

Another favorite of mine was sometimes we could see a chickadee start from way deep in the woods and make a line in that up and down wave-like flight pattern they fly straight to the feeder that held sunflower seeds.

There are too many stories about the birds we saw and what they did for me to relate in a short blog post but they were almost constant entertainment. A friend from way back in high school visited once and added several species to his life list just sitting drinking coffee one morning.

My son more tolerated my passion for it more than he actually participated. But he surprised me when he was in sixth grade and wanted to do his science project testing what foods the jays would like best. His project won a statewide science fair division and earned him a big blue ribbon from a birding group.

After that junior high school took over and he got way too cool for dad’s bird interests. and I never noticed him paying much attention to birds again.

I hadn’t realized it until just today as I was telling my friend about our life list when it hit me. On our square-rigger sail this summer it came up we needed a bird identification book and no one seemed to have brought one. Turns out one person had. My 20-year-old son quickly produced his, the only one among that environmentally conscious crew to have one. And it was in telling my friend about it today that I realized what an event that really had been, the realization that at some point I had planted a positive idea with a growing boy. Perhaps in the encounter with the Bohemian waxwings, my friend has planted the same sort of idea with his son and one day the boy will reveal that influence to his father as well. I can tell him now it is one great, if unexpected, reward for being a parent.

Here is the last life list from the picture window:

JUSTIN AND TIM'S VERY SPECIAL PICTURE WINDOW LIFE LIST

(Seen through our window by both of us and confirmed with bird books)

Birds we've seen                                             Birds we've heard

Varied Thrush                                             Owl (Saw whet)

Steller's Jay                                                      Woodpecker

Common Redpoll                                             Loon

Robin                                                               Birds we fed

Raven                                                               Steller's jay

Hermit Thrush                                             Black-capped chickadee

Wilson's Warbler                                             Rufous humingbird

Hairy Woodpecker                                             Redpolls

Bald Eagle                                                      Red breasted nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee                                    Junco

Black billed Magpie                                    3-toed woodpecker

Rufous Humingbird                                    Pine grosbeak (m&f)

Red-breasted Nuthatch                                    Pine siskin

Dark-eyed Junco

Three-toed Woodpecker

Pine Grosbeak (m & f)

Blackpoll warbler

Pine siskin

Downey woodpecker

Sharp-shinned hawk

Great horned owl

Violet green swallow

Dad saw:  Hawk, either red-tailed or sharp-shinned

                        and, either red-tailed immature or Goshawk; also a falcon, probably peregrin

My friend's story: Waxwing diversion