My impression while birding and otherwise checking quite a few areas of south county for the past several weeks is that almost all tipu trees are fairly dead, bird-wise. Some years they seem to attract reasonable numbers of warblers, etc., already by latter September, but other years they are not good until much later. Last year, they were very slow until almost mid-November. This year seems to be following that same scenario, so far. And while last year was good for many patches of birdy lerpy eucalyptus, this year seems to have substantially fewer infected trees, and few birds. I can find only a couple patches (e.g., in Tierrasanta) with active, fresh lerps, whereas many of last year's patches are not in use and mostly birdless. It would be very helpful to other birders if folks who DO find active, bird-rich lerp areas, let others know!

--Paul Lehman, San Diego