We returned from a 12-day sojourn in a warm state to our south (okay 
-- Florida) just last night.

Today we discovered that "our" Brown Thrasher, first seen by us in 
our small back yard in West Bethesda on January 1, is still with us.

We had stocked all our feeders before we left, but most had run out 
of supplies by the time we returned, and our heated bird bath had 
frozen up completely.

The Brown Thrasher was seen on numerous occasions today, February 
16.  He/she is apparently omnivorous, and was seen eating safflower 
seeds off the deck, gnawing on one of our four suet feeders, and 
pecking hard on a halved apple.  The bird is still quite easy to 
spook, and retreats for long periods underneath some shrubs at the 
top of our rear bank.  But it appears very healthy and is weathering 
this long period of cold weather pretty well.

If any of you out there in Maryland are interested in going south to 
Florida this winter, we would be happy to give you some pointers on 
where to look for some special birds.  We had 160 species down there, 
including a Western Spindalis (Stripe-headed Tanager). Contact us off line.

Mike and Joy Bowen
Bethesda, MD

D. H. Michael Bowen (Mike)
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda MD 20817-3845
Tel/Fax: (301) 530-5764
[]