THANK YOU for the Tin Cat recommendation. I found they also make a poly version called, strangely enough, "Poly Cat", that is recommended for outdoor or damp conditions. I don't have a greenhouse, but we live next to a horse farm and always have a few mice around in the fall. This year they took over the basement. I finally caught all the basement mice, I think, but in a show of solidarity, their outdoor relatives snuck under the hood of my car and started chewing wires and tubes. Four trips to the shop so far. Fortunately, I discovered insurance will pay almost all of the damage. Apparently, Honda is using some soy-based product around the wiring and the mice find it very tasty. So I'm getting a Poly Cat to place next to the driveway, plus a few for the garage, basement and shed. I like the idea of not having to check and reset constantly.

Let's see. The grass is a very tall, non-native invasive on the coast of Connecticut, and it's name starts with "F?" It's probably Phragmites, and it's more than likely a variety of P. australis (Common Reed) known as Phragmites "Haplotype M." If it actually is Phragmites, the marsh bordering your property is probably fairly low salinity brackish water, because the plant can't tolerate salinity greater than 18 parts per thousand. This means your marsh is very likely some sort of a restricted impoundment, with tidal flow controlled by some sort of dike or dam. There are all sorts of ways to get rid of it, including mowing it, digging it up, even covering it with plastic. These individual techniques are usually only temporary, and only effective on small stands. You might try this to a limited extent, to try to improve your views. Connecticut has a program called WHAMM (Wetland Habitat and Mosquito Management) which uses two more permanent methods. One is to increase the salinity of the marsh, by allowing greater tidal flow into the area. This may or may not be possible in your case, because it could lead to increased flooding during storms, moon tides, etc.. The other is a 3-year program of mowing and treating with Glyphosate (Roundup, Rodeo, etc.) Everything depends on whether you have the right/responsibility to deal with the marsh. A large stand of Phragmites will really destroy it's own habitat in time. It limits bird and other wildlife use, and it's shade kills lower growing (shorter than 20') plants. It does not act as any sort of dam, keeping flood water off your property. Something else is keeping the tidal waters back, otherwise the Phragmites wouldn't be able to grow there. I'd suggest contacting WHAMM.

Well, since the Common Raven is considered a songbird (the largest in North America), I guess grackles are small in comparison. Be glad you don't have a raven landing on your feeder. I have another possible take on your crows-with-snake event. The crow broods are fledging now in my neighborhood and they're flying all around with non-stop nasal cawing (I flew to this tree! What do I do now? Where is everybody? I'm hungry, feed me!). Maybe your crow is delivering the snake lecture to the kids - "This long skinny floppy thing is dangerous! Watch out! This is how to deal with it!" Just a thought. Claire

Molie: I would suggest a Great Blue Heron, perhaps a juvenile, for the darker bird. These are photos I took in August of a rather mangy looking Great Blue Heron preening in Ellisville Marsh. The dark crown is visible. Check out All About Birds - scroll down to the Field Marks section and then click on the arrow to see more photos. About five photos in is a juvenile. Claire Edit note: One thing that bothers me about the Black-crowned Night-Heron ID is the fact that they mostly hang around at night. According to All About Birds: "Black-crowned Night-Herons are common in wetlands across North America - you just may have to look a little harder than you do for most herons. True to their name, these birds do most of their feeding at night and spend much of the day hunched among leaves and branches at the water’s edge. Evening and dusk are good times to look for these rather stout, short-necked herons flying out to foraging grounds." This post was edited by claire on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 15:06