That is a double suet feeder I bought at one of the local Agways - I think it was made by Droll Yankee, but I'm not sure. It's good because you can fill it with oranges and suet or put two suet blocks in at once. It also solves the problem of how to refill a suet feeder when the first block has shriveled down to 1/3 the size, but is still taking up space. With a single feeder you have to either throw the remainder on the ground (which pleases the ground-feeders), or try to cram a new block in with the leftover. With the double feeder you can just add a new block to the top and it slides down as it gets whittled away. One of my suet feeders is invisible from indoors now that the rose leaves have filled out. In the winter I could see birds through the canes. The suet feeder is hanging from the top of the arch. I'm hoping the little birds like downies and wrens can lurk in there and wait for the grackles (and Blue Jays) to leave. Claire

Speaking of birds, I just had quite an interesting encounter. I am trying to incorporate some very nice used carob bricks into my BBQ which is already built into some very large rocks adjacent to my pond. It is very challenging to try and meld the two materials together. I am totally engrossed trying to figure it out and out of nowhere comes a loud whoosh and a thud and an immature yet still very sizeable bald eagle flopping around at my feet. I'm not sure what attracted him, perhaps my koi but maybe he dove, saw me and tried to swoop out. He flew right into the glass rail of my deck and knocked himself cookoo. I calmly talked him through it until the cobwebs subsided and he was able to fly off to hunt another day. You talk about an adrenaline rush!!!!!! Here's a picture of the BBQ I was working on. I had just demo-ed the fake brick off the front when the eagle hit the glass panel on the deck stairs. Here is a link that might be useful:

Thirty-four years ago when my husband first took me to the rundown overgrown "farm" that became our home the first bird I saw was a towhee! That sighting helped make me amenable to the task that was ahead of us and with us for the rest of our lives. It's a wonderful bird spot.

Readers Digest Book of North American Birds; ISBN 0895773511; 1990. A Fufous-sided Towhee: Pipilo erythrophthalmus: "Scratching about with one foot at a time, like barnyard poultry, rufous-sided towhees gather their food from the very bosom of the earth. It is little wonder, then, that these active birds used to be called ground robins, especially since their well-hidden nests of stems and leaves are nestled so close to the ground. Today they are named towhees because that is the sound most people hear in their song. But they were once known as chewinks, from the call they make when alarmed. In some parts of the West that call is phonetically transcribed as shrenk, while in others it sounds more like the meowing of catbirds. In sections of the Southeast they unquestionably call Louise! And although their song is translated into English in most parts of the country as "chip towhee" or "drink your tea," the birds seem to drawl it in the South, and are apt to sing chip chup chup zeeeeeee, or just a buzzy zeeeeee, in the West. Their visual field marks too are almost as varied as their vocal ones. Rusous-sided towhees in Florida have white eyes instead of red ones, and those in the West have two white wing bars plus numerous white spots on their wings and backs. But no matter where they live, all rufous-sided towhees come flying in low to the ground with the side patches in their tails looking like white chiffon streamers trailing dramatically behind them."