let me begin with a rare treat: a pileated woodpecker=woo hoo! the largest woodpecker in North America. We had our usual chickadees, finches, sparrows, and bushtits; also the Stellar jay, starlings, robins, and flickers; then, we noticed that our spotted towhees were traveling with a pair of Varied Thrushes! Oh joy, and they were having fun scattering the leaves along the edges of the path and in the garden boxes. The male is much brighter than the demurely colored female.