Swifts are on the decline too because the types of chimneys they require are seen less and less in homes. The town nearby is quite old with lots of Victorian age homes and older and you see swifts frequently. We used to get all sorts of birds down our chimneys here (1820s house with fireplaces in each room) and swifts were one of them. I left them be, pulled the glass doors shut and usually the parent fed them and they disappeared when they got old enough, prolly back up the chimney. This is bizarre, but we had a brick loose in our original kitchen hearth and before we repaired it, somehow starling babies ended up in the adjoining cabinets in my linen drawer. Don't ask me how! I did evict them! We have even had ducks drop down the chimney. LOL. We do not use the woodburning fireplaces anymore and the chimney are all capped. You can search the net for instructions on how to build swift towers to replace the chimneys they used to use more easily. They are insect eaters. Good, good birds to have around.

Thanks for the feedback. I was sitting at my kitchen table when I heard the birds call out and scatter in every direction. I was able to take pictures through my kitchen window of the hawk as he narrowed in on his prey. One of the cardinals hit the window and landed underneath the deck furniture.

Hi Rachel, Sorry - I live in eastern Massachusetts, 7 miles north of Boston and I live in a suburb with a little wooded area bordering my backyard, and a wildlife reservation and ponds about 1/2 a mile away (I am very fortunate!). It has been very cold here the last few days and we got our first dusting of snow yesterday. I have seen different kinds of birds here within a mile of the house - woodpeckers, hawks, swans, geese, the common feeder birds, we even have a heron who flies back and forth over our neighborhood every day - so we do get a variety of birds. We definitely do have house sparrows, but these little guys I saw yesterday were not those. They were just about a solid brown from where I could see. No striping or definitive marks. They just hopped around eating stray sunflower seeds. I've gone through photos of species, both genders and juvenile appearances, on the internet and in my books, and I am not sure what this bird was. The only even remote possibilities I could come up with were: field sparrow; junco; and female indigo bunting. If you have thoughts on this I would be most appreciative. Thanks, Donna P.S. Your last set of photos was, as always, astounding. Congrats on your new lifer!

Looks like a wood warbler, maybe? There's way too many warblers for me to be able to differentiate between them all, especially the yellow ones! But at least you're able to narrow it down to a warbler! Pretty little thing, isn't it? Nicole