4

Wednesday, August 8, 1984

Wi Hes

‘to. answer questions —

Any

4n siya
RMR

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a i th

SIDNEY
9768 - Sth St.

clump” of

Outdoors

Unlimited

By Cy Hampson

Hiking the slopes above Land’s
End Road -this.week . was. a
_ pleasant. experience. The
deciduous growth was still. fresh
and. green. while’ the. towering
Douglas and Grand fir gave offa
tantalizing..aroma, their. many

needled crowns inthe warm sun.

Young, sharp-eyed Craig
Nordin: quickly. spotted. a
plethora’ -of. racoon... scat,
collections. ..of .cone scales
removed. by red
search of tasty seeds, clump.upon
Indian . pipe, their
exquisite upright flowers on the
tips of slender pearl-white stems.

We also ran across the bulky
nest of one of our handsomest

birds, the cedar waxwing. The
nest was saddled ‘on one of the
lower branches of a grand fir,
close in. against. the trunk. The

-very bulk of the nest, together.

with the quantitiy of mosses and
lichens

corporated into. ‘its construction,

gave away the identity. of. the

1 Pye

~ builder at once.

On the® ‘Island, ‘the. ‘sleek:

brownish cedar waxwing with the.
“conspicuous. black mask rough.
> the.ceyes.-and:: the: ‘jaunty - crest ;

lowered.

Happenings,

squirrels in’

which had» been In- 5

People,

Things

larger, greyer bohemian wax-
wings, with rich.» chestnut: under

tail coverts, do not occur here.
All waxwings: have. an” ex-
tremely well tailored appearance;

‘Tchave: never. seen one with a

single feather out of place.

Nests. usually contain from
three to five pale bluish eggs with
dark spots, sparsely scattered.
The most striking nest of ‘this
species that I have ever found was
in Saskatchewan in the vicinity of
Saskatoon: It» was -composed
entirely of soft, fluffy, whitish-
grey sheep wool. Here on the
coast, they are sometimes
constructed almost exclusively of
the slender fibres of grey tree
lichens. a

For some reason or other,
these handsome, fashion- minded
Beau Brummels of. the passerine
world are singularly dilatory in.
courtship matters. They seem to”
- delay the fateful plunge. into. the -
“promise. of. connubial. bliss until”
the: very last moment. noes

- Hence, ‘nesting. is” ate in. the.
season: and: their chicks: appear to.

a Agu re