May 27, 2002

For days, I have been awakened every morning by a male junco attacking the rival he sees in the window (that acts as a mirror, because it's dark inside). This morning was the same, except that Eddie's office window, reflecting the tree and sky outside, snared a scarlet tanager. He (the tanager) hit hard, but unlike the grouse that sounded like a bomb going off when he tragically broke his neck on the kitchen window the first fall we were here, the tanager was not speeding and so just stunned himself. While he was catching his breath, Eddie got off three snaps of him. Here's the one we liked best. His brilliance takes my breath away.