summer remains part 3

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Such a sight. I rarely get this good of a look at a female summer tanager even in the summer. Of course, in summer with all the leaves on the trees, she blends in better. In the gray of winter, she's as pronounced as a pet shop canary.

I spent a pleasant afternoon at Hugh Morgan's watching the tanager come and go from his backyard. Yes, a summer in winter. She seemed to have a patten. First, she'd appear in a high perch, watchful. Surveying the scene perhaps watching for signs of a Cooper's hawk.

Then she would move into a low azalea to the right of Hugh's suet and seed feeders. Still she was weary and careful, moving in slowly, hidden from view.


As Hugh had already observed, she appeared to be aware of when a downy woodpecker came and went from the suet because whenever it left the golden passerine hopped to the ground to clean up the fatty detritus the petite woodpecker had dropped.

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