[Tweeters] Spring is in the Air?

[jimbetz at jimbetz.com]

Hi,

   Just read thru the digest reports of PIGUs and other Alcids that are
showing plumage changes.
   Today I went to visit a friend in New Westminister, B.C.  I arrived a
few minutes early and hadn't had lunch so I took a few minutes to just
sit in my car and eat a package of granola bars.  While sitting there
in the car a -pair- of crows flew up onto the wire just above me and
proceeded to make me feel like "the old man on the park bench watching
young lovers make their first 'hook ups'.  They were preening each
other, staying in contact (actually even sidling next to each other
and literally rubbing bodies), and other such preambles.  I'd call it
"pair bonding".  But not actually mating.  This went on for the entire
five minutes or so it took me to eat my snack. So the Corvids seem to
be "feeling frisky".

                              ****

   BTW - if you are interested ... the border crossing in both directions
was painless and quick.  Just showed my "passport card" and answered a
couple of quick questions.  No car search, guards didn't even step out
of their booths.  Neither direction was quicker/slower/easier than the
other.  Didn't even ask about vaccinations.

                             ****

   Oh yes, Saturday we went on the Skagit Audubon Field Trip to the
Samish Flats.  A cold wind kept making me value the times we drove
between stops more than the times we were stopped.
   Highlights were a medium sized flock of Dunlins very close to
Bayview-Edison road (near D-Arcy Rd), a goodly number of Bald Eagles
(both adults and not), a long-tailed duck on Samish Island, some
Pipits near Thompson Rd., and ... FOY huge numbers of Snow Geese.
As in stings/vees of them in the distance covering an arc of more
than 45 degrees ... we're talking tens of thousands of birds over
about an hour or so.  They were flying, more or less, West to East
but we didn't see them landing ... perhaps they moved to the Skagit
Flats area or Fir Island?  Also quite a few Meadow Larks at the
West 90.
   Neil was a very gracious trip leader and the group was very
knowledgeable, upbeat, friendly, and FUN.
                                                -  Jim in Burlington