[EBB Sightings] The Gang's all Here

Dear Birding Friends:

When I stepped outside early Sunday morning I heard the first Hermit Thrush 
of the season in my garden and further off the eerie, sustained notes of a 
Varied Thrush.  In my oak, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet sung a fragment of his 
spring song along with its emphatic scolds.  White-crowned, Golden-crowned 
and Fox Sparrows have established feeding territories on my deck feeders 
joining a flock of winter juncos. Their energy seems to have infected 
resident birds dispersing the doldrums of late summer.  Robins are more 
numerous and conversational now as they gather to begin feasting on ripening 
cotoneaster berries.

Though the days grow shorter, this is a joyful time of the year.  Monarch 
butterflies drift singly through the garden.  Orb weavers fatten in their 
webs.  Tree crickets sing after dark -- their pulsing song louder on mild 
evenings, subdued on cool ones.

With the good rain last week, winged termites emerged for their moment in 
the sun, following their young queen to establish a new colony.

Phila Rogers