WILDLIFE WATCHING -- In the spirit of ongoing bird migration, Colbert area birdwatcher Tina Wynecoop shares this poem she clipped from a newspaper while working near the mouth of the Skagit River in 1969.

The Owl
 
While hitchhiking to Seattle, two Indians gave
me a ride from La Conner to Mt. Vernon in a pickup truck.
On the way I told them I was an artist, and showed them
a folio of bird drawings I had with me. 
The Indians looked at them with some interest,
then the one driving asked me to draw a picture of a Bluejay for him.
He told me that the Bluejay is the only bird that will help another
bird of a species different than its own.
I asked the Indian how they did this. 
He said that Bluejays will always surround a hungry bird, even an Eagle, and feed it.
I said I would give him a picture of a Bluejay the next time I saw him. 
Then the Indian sitting next to me who had been silent, turned and said, "I can hear the Bluejays talk." 
I asked him what they said. 
He replied, "Right now they are talking to an owl they've got riding between them in a truck. 
 
 ~ Charile Krafft (1969)