Cassin's finches and bushtits, Louisville

[Bev Baker]

I've enjoyed and been jealous of the recent Cassin's finch activity.  Walking around Louisville early-ish this morning hoping to see some, just as I was wondering whether to head downtown since they've been seen around there, ears and brain connected and I realized I was hearing a finch din on both sides, not all from house finches.  There were about 3 dozen birds, including probably a dozen Cassin's -on Coyote Run open space several hundred yards east of Harper Lake and just west of Washington, some at a house with feeders on the north side of the trail, and others in a tree on the south side.

Then a little while ago, clearing snow off my car, when I took a pause from fussing at the hackberry tree above my driveway for dropping snow blobs on my head, ears and brain connected again and I realized not all the chatter in the hackberry was coming from chickadees - there were several bushtits.  The little cuties!  I've seen them in the same tree before, and not when the gall-filled leaves are on, so they are after something else.  I live close to Cottonwood Park and Lake Park, and have seen them a couple times in those areas too.

Bev Baker

Louisville