Nice hawk pictures, Emily! I wonder why it was looking around, maybe it thought another hawk was going to try to rob it of dinner? Here the House/English Sparrows have taken to lurking in the depths of an old berberis, and the Cooper's Hawk has learned to strike at the shrub to scare them out. I don't think the hawk can get inside, the branches are thorny and dense, but the sparrows panic and burst out and the hawk chases them. I haven't seen a kill yet but it could happen just out of sight if the hawk is fast enough. I once saw a hawk keep running around a euonymus shrub trying to get into the center. It even used its claws to reach inside. Whatever was inside survived, unless it died of terror. Claire

Love to see the turkey poults growing, Claire. Great pictures. I am sort of following two parallel threads showing young turkeys, yours and a facebook thread of the organic farm where we buy our thanksgiving turkey every year. Theirs are a heritage breed, very close to the wild turkeys, and out on grass, as turkeys are meant to be (not scrunched up into tiny pens and fed GM corn). Both sets of photos make me happy! I think your moth may be a promethea moth, Pixie. Also I love your photo of the running fawn. Jane, your beautiful pictures of the rose breasted grosbeaks made me recall the huge flocks of evening grosbeaks we had long ago during an era where we fed the birds. Since I haven't seen any photos of these beautiful yellow birds on any of the threads, I looked them up and am very sad to see that their populations are in decline now. Since we had the house painted last fall, we have had no swallows build a nest on our porch as in past years. Perhaps next year... However a pair of tree swallows have raised a large brood in the birdhouse out in my orange garden. You can hear the chorus of loud chirping as you walk by! Here's one of the parent birds ready to deliver a meal to the little ones. They spend all day, every day, collecting bugs to feed the babies. I expect the small ones will be taking flight shortly and the parents will finally have a well earned rest! It makes me so delighted to have beneficial birds nesting in the house once again now that I have prevailed in my campaign to rid the area of HOSPs (English sparrows). PankajT, nice photo of the red-bellied woodpecker. Seeing these birds in New England is one of the least objectionable effects of climate change, much more welcome than influx of ticks for instance!

Grabbed the camera and it needs new batteries. (I don't like how often my Canon Power Shot sx150 needs new batteries.) Finally! A mama turkey and 10 chicks about the size of morning doves. They stayed in one spot for quite some time then started to stroll along. Mama found something in the tall weeds that must have been yummy. Several chicks ran over. We also had two male cardinals this morning. A very unusual sight for us but my husband was looking out the window at the right time. I usually hear the whip-poor-will around 4:15am. Not this morning though when my husband was also awake too early and would have liked to have heard it. There's a hummingbird around but I have just planted Scarlet Runner beans on a trellis next to our favorite viewing window. I wonder how much food is out there for him.

The good news is very good, Jane! And the bad news isn't so bad since it will prevent future problems/bird invasions. It's snowing now (the first measurable snow of this winter) and the birds are dealing with it. It's not so deep that they can't reach the birdseed and besides I threw a lot of birdseed under some hollies where the snow won't fall. Doves and a song sparrow: Cardinal, white-throat and a house finch plus an unidentifiable bird. About a dozen red-winged blackbirds appeared today but most of them found the seed under the hollies. These are feeding under a feeder. In a normal winter I'd have gone out and shoveled for the birds but I expect this snow to be melted and/or washed away before it prevents them from feeding. Claire - who couldn't stand it and just went out and swept the snow to make it easier for the birds.