Ha ha ha HA ha!

Coming home from errand walking, I heard a very loud drilling from up high on a light pole;  too loud for a flicker. It turned out to be a nice large Pileated Woodpecker, the likes of which I have only seen once in a nearby park, several times in Icicle Creek Canyon, and out on Orcas Island on the Camp Orkila property, all years ago.  Very exciting, and it is welcome to live in any of our trees.

Birdland

Despite a glitchy start to spring, the local avian denizens have been busy.  A few weeks ago I witnessed what appeared to be two hummingbirds involved in a mating dance, mid-air.  I have never seen this behavior, usually if they're near one another, they're embattled.  These two seemed to be blissfully twirling around one another.  Then there are the flickers; I love them, all their percussive drilling on metal chimney parts to attract mates, their liquid trilling calls, their strange "ooka ookas!" as they bob before prospective brides.  The bald eagles glide around one another above Green Lake and elsewhere, and there is even an occasional golden eagle hanging around by the lake.  Amazing that there is any wild life left at all in this paved over and built up area...