To Give and Receive

Where to begin this Washington trip blogging? So many things, so many birds. I figure no one wants to read a long-winded day-by-day account of the trip. I know I might not make it through it as a reader.
So I'll take a new tack.

This is "Drew's Birds" so we will stick to the birds. Fair enough? Cool. I am still scanning and processing files so there will be a lot to share. Might as well begin at the end and hopscotch all over as needed.

This way...

The total count for Life birds is still being determined but will end up around 45. On the last day to go sightseeing I had 2 of those just walking out the door. It was bound to happen.

A few days into the trip I decided that my in-laws needed a feeder of some sort. Just stepping outside as I did almost every morning after dawn was like stepping into some great aviary. Bird song floats or pierces the air from all sides and 150 feet overhead. Problem is, it is hard to see the singers through dense cover and cedar branches.

And shade. Lots of shade.

A bird feeder would have to draw some of the little guys closer. Wednesday night I bought a feeder, a hook, some seed and found a place for it when most of the family was asleep. I knew I wouldn't be able to see the discovery by birds or humans but, oh, well. I had Dungeness to hike.

But the day after the hike, I woke to find a pair of Song Sparrows feeding on the seed I had thrown around under the feeder as a "starter" for the birds to find the spot.



We got ready to head to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and while I was getting things into the rental car the birds were getting really loud. A lot of little chips and cheeps and then a flash of tiny feathers near the feeder. Then more and more and more.

The first new bird of the day was one on the several I had written off as the week progressed: Chestnut-backed Chickadee.



Cute, eh? So is the bird! There were over half a dozen of that species and it was soon joined by a bird I had found a few days earlier after getting lost trying to find a store: Black-capped Chickadee.



The most surprising bird flew in somewhere in the feeding frenzy but I had to look a couple of time to see that it really was different from the others. Until it flew to the feeder alone: Red-breasted Nuthatch. Second new bird of the morning.



Not a great pic but enough. Then we were off to find the final new birds of the trip but that will have to wait until a later date.

The main point is that the gift I had given to bring the joy birds to others also served to bring me some new birds, too. I only got to watch for a few minutes but I am sure it will bring many birds up close as long as the seed is there.

Speaking of which, I need to go check my feeders at home. Goldfinches are going crazy!