I hear Raven, that gorgeous deep voice in the distance, I don’t see him yet.  Many Mallard (and one domestic duck!) scatter as a lone kayaker paddles by.  Great blue Heron takes silent wing, flying low to the other side of the lake.  One of several resident crows is cawing the urgently, “CAT! CAT! CAT!” and songbirds erupt from the cover of grapevines and hardhack.  There are both chestnut-sided and black-capped chickadee, Oregon and slate-colored junco, Rufous-sided towhee, purple finch (a female came in the house by mistake yesterday, she quickly exited the way she came!), song sparrow and the first of the golden-crowned sparrows that arrived just a day or two ago.  If history can be counted on, soon there may be many and hopefully with them the white-crowned and maybe the white-throated sparrow too.  Fingers crossed.  Steller’s jay, of course.  Northern Flicker and Downy Woodpecker taking turns at the suet.  Kingfisher.  Starling – a noisy mob! – I can hear JP say, “starling!” with that despising tone of Snidely Whiplash.  American robin fill the lawn since the crow went quiet, feeling safe so easily perhaps or just driven by making a their living?  There’s a voice I don’t recognize in the apple tree.  And Anna hummingbirds are bickering and getting used to the new feeder.  They don’t seem to like it as well as the old one, but the gray squirrels having torn out the small openings leaving big holes and making for an easy sweet syrupy meal for dozens of hungry yellow-jackets  – so even the feisty little hummers would steer clear.  Nothing against yellow-jackets but I prefer to feed the birds, thus the new feeder.

All of these visitors to my Echo Lake yard are considered of least concern with conservationist.  I am fortunate for the abundance and grateful for their ability to sustain themselves.

There will be more as the day goes along.  I’ll keep watching.  Such a bird-nerd!  🙂  JOY! JOY! JOY!

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin!