Jodik...For some reason, I find spiders on the stairway to the basement. Where it's dark. There's a closet at the bottom where Christmas and Halloween decorations are stored. The spiders love it down there. I'm afraid to remove ornaments for fear a spider will be in a box..lol On the other hand, in our front plant room, where it's bright, spiders make webs behind a large shelf, usually wall corners. I don't know if they're spider webs or or cobwebs..are they the same? Once in a while a baby spider is hidden in the corner walls. It's hard cleaning behind the shelf since there's very little space. The shelf is wide, about 2" from one side of the wall across to the other. Oh God, yes, this old house has many openings. Far too many. If I knew how to fix them I would. My brother lives in a secured Condo..last summer a bat somehow got inside. They believe it snuck in through their exhaust fan. Tropic..your friends are very kind-hearted. They'll be rewarded. We have a couple rescue shelters that take in injured wildlife..This organization nurses wounded animals then releases them in the forest/wooded areas after they're healed. How big was the crocodile? I don't know what feral Cane Toads are. Does Cane Toad look like most other toads? Warty, etc. Do toads bite? Is biting how toads attack turtles and get venom inside their system? The pen you constructed is inside your house? Wow..Cool. lol. Have a picture? LOL, turtle couldn't care less about your landscaping. Do Cane Toads live inside your house, too? If so, how do you keep them from entering the pen? Lol, wildlife allows you to live in 'their' home. lol. I'll have to Google, Butcherbirds. Never heard the type. Why are they called Butcherbirds? A name that includes butcher, well, these birds don't sound very friendly. lol. Millipedes might be harmless in the way of venom, but if a huge 'pede crawled on me I'd pass out. Oh, getting goose bumps thinking about it. lol. Although Carpet Python is colorful, beautiful in fact, I could do without..lol. Spying a CS at the zoo would be fine, but not living in the house. Tropic, what's with the snakes? If you don't mind me asking. Milking spiders..when a spider is going to be milked, espeially after agitating him/her, how does the milker near the spider w/o getting bit? Very dangerous career if you ask me..hope milkers have sufficient health care. Larry..Go to Nam..you'll find two-foot pedes. My dh was in VN..they came across a 2' 'pede. Don't know if it was a millipede or centipede, only that it was huge. Dh said, although the body was 2', its legs were about 4-inches. Where does one keep a 'pede that big? lol. Toni Yuck..the delivery spider truck driver delivers a quart of leggy creatures. lol.

Great pics of the owl! I've never managed to get pics of any owls around here altho did see a Great Horned Owl in a tree quite close to my house and heard one last night when I took the dogs out.

Alright now! You guys are confusin me! Ive checked my books and Ive googled a bunch of pictures onlineand I dont know what it was that was here. The pic of the bird I posted is a little misleading. The bird I saw was WAY browner than it looks in the pics. I know, I knowdont go by the color! And its sitting on the branch with its back toward me. I was amazed that I was able to get a pic when it turned its head in my direction briefly a couple times. Heres the third pic I got where you can (kinda) see that its facing away from mebut its the worst quality pic. I figured out why the pictures from upstairs are distorted! Theyre taken thru the screenand the birds on the feeders in the backyard look even worse because of the "down" angle of the camera thru the screen. The BIG bird isnt quite as bad since the neighbors yard is higher than mine, so it was taken on somewhat more of the same level with me. In the second pic above the bird had turned a little bit more sideways, but its still sitting on the branch facing away from me. With all the pictures Ive looked at, I really dont know, now, what it was. I first saw it on top of the lattice at my back fence, which is only about 25' away from the windowI have a very shallow backyardand I sure didnt notice any black eye stripe or black and white head striping. Actually, I didnt notice any black or gray at all. It sat on that branch and I watched it for close to 10 minutes. Tho the pic doesnt show it, it was brown and tan. I guess I havent found any immature pics, cause all the ones Ive found are very much gray to dark gray. I think the tail pointing down so much in the pic was as much a balancing act as anything. The branch it was on was very long and pretty small for such a large bird (at least 15-18"), and it was moving around a lot. So I dont think the position of the tail is telling in this case. And then theres still the problem of what the first bird I saw wasthe purpose of this post. It was really VERY different. When I saw the second one the next day I assumed it was a pair since males and females can be quite different in size and colorand since a lot of birds do travel around in pairs, but the closest picture Ive found yet of the original bird is the first pic I linked of the Gray Hawkwhich we all agree is wasnt! But it was exactly like that picture, but lighteralmost whitewith very obvious, wide, dark banding on the tailwhich was very widely fanned when it flew away. Maybe I just need to concede thatunless one or both come back and I get better picturesIm never going to know for sure what they were. Whatever they were, Im glad I got to see them! Skybird (who is easily identifiable by the arms and legsand the uniform!) P.S. Digit, my pair of robins (that are here all winter) nest in my backyard every year, but that obviously has nothing to do with the feeders. I do think it might have to do with the constant water sourceand the easy access to worms in the worked soil in the veggie garden. And there was a nest in one of the neighbors cottonwoods that overhangs my yard, but I dont know what was in it! I only know it was there because its been falling into my backyard all fall and winter! Other than that I havent seen any other nests, but then I dont actually have any deciduous trees, and Ive never seen any nests in the two upright junipersand I dont have any bird houses out since I dont have anywhere to hang them. Wait! I've had a house sparrow nest in the Euonymous that grows up the side of my house right by the steps down off of the deck every year! Do they count as birds? They've been building it on top of the bend in the downspout where they were completely hidden by the foliage. But they won't be back! I've pulled almost all of the Euonymous down! It was growing up under the siding and the shingles!

Hey scorpgirl My local raptor watch group has been counting migrating raptors since August. Anyone can show up at the watch and help spot the birds. Binoculars sure do help, though not necessary. Having people there to help you identify the birds so you know what you're looking at is also nice. The count is then submitted to HMANA. http://hawkcount.org/ You may be able to find a count near you at this site. Everyone here says that in New Jersey the place to be for migration is Cape May. We are known here as a good place for spotting golden eagles- but you have to dress real warm if you want to see them. They migrate Nov. -Dec. Here is a link that might be useful: hawkcount