I've had birds for many years and currently have a pair of cockatiels. It's always amazed me as to how they communicate with each other and share the parenting duties while breeding a clutch of eggs. Most birds are social and very flock dependent. Without any romanticism involved, they definitely mourn the loss of their mate. Some die from the loneliness afterward. While wild birds may be less attached to their mate and have stronger instincts for survival, their bodies still experience normal hormonal changes when breeding that make them more attached to their mate & their young. That poor male is surely very confused over his missing family. I've lived in several areas that had many different animals that caused havoc with pets and people, alligators and snakes in the south, coyotes in California, and raccoons and deer here in Michigan. When ever someone complains about them causing trouble I have only one thought and that's that they were here first and it's part of living in the area that we choose to live in. I wonder what they think when they almost get hit by our cars, or can't find food because a builder has bulldozed their forest down.

It is a Peregrine Falcon and a Red Bellied Woodpecker. An ice-breaker from the Canadian Coast Guard came into Presque Isle Bay to make way for the ships to leave their berth. This should invite some waterfowl activity. This is the 750ft Thunder Bay waiting for the shipping season.

The wife and I had a really cool experience this weekend when a golden eagle visited our farm. This was our first encounter w/one. We do get bald eagles fairly regularly and thought perhaps this guy was a juvenile; however, this bird was decidedly different and fit every description of a golden eagle. They are pretty rare for our region, which is south central IL. He stayed around for 4-5 minutes and flew pretty low over us so we got an excellent look at him and also captured him on video. We also experienced our first osprey and sandhill cranes this year. On a different note, we're getting lots of visiting ducks on our pond. Yesterday, we had 3 pairs of wood ducks and a bufflehead. We've also had mergansers.

Work of a piliated woodpecker on a dead basswood (but there are living sprouts from it surrounding the dead part). Look at the amount of "sawdust" on the ground. While living in VA, I saw one in winter on the ground chopping into a fallen log. After it left, I went and looked at the log, and the chopped up part was littered w/frozen carpenter ants! It had discovered and chopped open a big carpenter ant nest and feasted on them.