In the last week I have been pleased to welcome as many as 30 Pine Siskins at a time to my feeders. Frequently they have been accompanied by A. Goldfinches, a bird that had disappeared from my yard for a while. In fact, for 3-4 weeks in late December into January, I didn’t have to touch my sock feeder because nobody was interested. Then the Siskins arrived and then a horde of L. Goldfinches as well. It’s nice to have them all back.

Also, yesterday, for the first time in a long time (years?), I saw a Spotted Towhee on my regular route. He was skulking in the brush along Remington St., across from the entrance to LarKen, the folks who make concrete vaults for toilets. I was looking for White-crowned Sparrows and he was suddenly there. Hopefully he’ll stick around for a while.

And hopefully tomorrow will be biking weather again.

Tom McCabe, Boise