Neah Bay in the northwest corner of Washington is famous for more than fishing. If you want to see the farthest western point of land in the contiguous United States, your destination is Cape Flattery.

When a reader described what appeared to be a rare hummingbird, I couldn’t even guess what species it might be.

The sound overhead was a familiar one. “Gronk, gronk!” That’s how I describe a raven’s call but that is only one of the sounds they make.

Just as the coffee was being made, a bird burst into song right over my head. The kitchen skylight lets us see into the plum tree’s blossoms where the singer was perched. A male house finch with head thrown back and wings spread was singing his heart out. The object of his affection was sitting nearby. Courting male house finches go all out in pursuit of their ladies. This one was serenading with great vigor and also tempting her in another way. “Sweets for the sweet” seemed his plan.

Most of us do our daily birdwatching in our own yards at feeders we maintain in an effort to attract the birds. However, there are others among us who live on one of this region’s many lakes. They enjoy watching birds the rest of us must go looking for. Most of the lakes in Western Washington aren’t very large but they often attract an interesting assortment of birds. Some do better than others and two factors are responsible: the food supply and the availability of good nesting habitat. If the birds find food and can safely raise a family, chances are they will make the lake their home for at least part of the year.

This winter’s trip to Hawaii’s Big Island was planned so that we could spend more time near Kilauea’s volcanic activity. The lava flow took a break the day before we arrived but we had already planned to use the two days focusing on Hawaii’s endemic birds. Unusual as it may sound, our first day was planned around visiting an art gallery. This is an art gallery located within walking distance of the crater’s rim in this part of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.