I am in N.E. Ohio (5 miles S.W. of the point where I-80 crosses the Ohio/Pa state line). I am 62 yrs old and for the first 20yrs of my life I lived on a dairy farm about 6 miles from here. In those days this entire region was polluted by the steel mills, but the mills closed in the late 70's and the every year we see more and more species of birds and animals returning here that we only read about as kids. Just this year I got my first look at Bluebirds & Baltimore Orioles. We currently have two families of bluebirds nesting in a pine about 60ft from our back door and the orioles are nesting in a pine right beside it. Immediately to the east of our house is a 18acre field and we see upwards of 12 deer out there every day. Sometimes the deer actually come in our back yard. Two weeks ago i got a quick snapshot of a flock of 21 wild turkeys out in the field and we have Bald Eagles nesting in a woodlot about 250 yrs behind our house. I actually got to see the mother eagle teaching a pair of eglets how to fly. What an experience that was. One of the eglets actually landed in our yard and the mother sat on a limb about 60 ft above the house encouraging it to fly again. There is one pair of birds that frequent our yard that I have not been able to identify. They are bright yellow with coal black wings and a black crown on their heads. at first i thought they were goldfinches but when i saw them up close they are much larger than finches. These birds are as big as a robin or bluejay. We have flocks of gold finches so it is easy to see these are not finches when they are all together in the yard.

Thanks! Still behind; I have another web album of photos I've not yet posted. We camped in the yard last night as usual in our screen tent, and apparently the jaguar is back..the dogs suddenly went crazy and we heard the strangest, loudest noises. I went online and found some of what we heard on this link-scroll down to audio clip http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/jaguar.html Besides the wails, grunts, rumbles, it also kept making explosive snorts..like an alarmed deer, except MUCH louder, more explosive, lower down, and dragged on and on until my bones vibrated. It seemed the sound wrapped around the tent, and I didn't know where to point the huge spotlight we keep next to us. DuBois plant to take a tape recorder with us this time, in case it returns. I also plan to download jaguar sounds and play them next to my web cams on the hill to see if we can lure it in for a photo. We've not seen its tracks since this march..guess it has a huge territory. Our neighbor was approached by a half grown black jaguar while hunting on our property in the fall of 2006 so it should nearly mature now. Just this spring, another neighbor a few miles away spotted a black jaguar on his farm, so it's still alive. Photo of suspected jaguar track, click on "full screen" http://picasaweb.google.com/rachelbro3/BigFootTracksScat#5317982295991557506

No, not a yellow breasted chat....I'm changing my answer to yellow-throated warbler! (I'm new to this bird id thing...I'm testing my skills..lol!) Eagerly looking forward to someone "in the know" coming forward with the id.

I have never known Northern Mockingbirds to stay hidden. They are boisterous buggers and perch in prominent spots, often repeatedly flying up and back down onto their perch while flapping their wings and displaying their conspicuous white patches. Gray Catbirds, on the other hand, can sing repeating phrases of strange whistles and squeaks (and not giving the typical "meow" call) and can be really hard to find as they stay lower in the brushy growth. Sometimes they are singing from the back of the brushy growth and hidden from view. If you are sure it's not a Yellow-breasted Chat (who stay well-hidden), I'd wager Gray Catbird (unless proven otherwise). http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Dumetella-carolinensis