520 Bridge is closed for weekend...

I didn't drive the bridge today but did drive 520 east into Redmond and back. There was a sharp shinned hawk on one of the light standards, and an osprey on another. Judging by the activities of the birds at our back yard feeders the bird population is really hungry as winter slowly winds down here. We've had as many as two dozen pine siskins at a time at the feeder we've filled with nijer seed, and the house finches, Oregon juncos, red breasted sapsuckers and chickadees are ravenous as well. I'm going to get some more bird seed at Wild Birds Unlimited this weekend.

The Evergreen Point bridge, however, is closing tonight and will be closed until 5 am Monday morning. So there will be no eagle watching until next week. I hope that my friends, Ethel and Ernest, are well and that I've simply missed seeing them in the last couple of weeks. The calendar says that March is at hand....so I think Ethel may soon disappear for perhaps extended periods of time if she is sitting on eggs. There has been some minor worry that the widening of the 520 Bridge might disturb the areas around the eagles' current nest in The Arboretum, though most likely not until at least a year from now when construction goes into high swing on the west side of the bridge.