Discover Walla Walla

Our Say's Phoebes are back. (I say "our" only by way of description. We lay no real claim to them.)

Since we built our barn back in 2005, they've nested in its rafters each year. They arrive mid-February (much earlier than the books say they will) and depart when I threaten to shoot them (an empty threat) in early September. By then, parents and chicks are flying around all over the place, pooping on everything in sight-the backs of our porch chairs, the porch lights on the cottage, the gate railing and its latch. The dogs are tired of chasing them. Even BC, the barn cat, has given up her quest to snatch one from the air while they're mobbing her. So they're free to poop wherever they like, unchallenged except by me and I'm no challenge.

They arrived February 18-pink-breasted and feisty. The female is checking out nest sites, but will probably choose the same place she's chosen every year, the rafter right above my car. You guessed it, more poop. While she looks for accommodations, her mate pesters BC, trying to establish some ground rules before the babies are born-probably April. Both fly up and down the fence lines in the evening, driving the dogs crazy. It's a little game they'll play each night until the dogs tire of it.

Annie and I are glad to see them.