Thanks for your input. Too moist? No. Too cold? Probably not since we've lived here. Last year we had a very mild winter here in mid-Maine, with little snow cover. I did notice a tiny bit of growth on this Mahonia, but nothing to rave about. Guess I'll give it another year because it surely isn't taking up any room to speak of. Thanks again for your thoughts.

donnas, I totally agree with you on outdoor cats, cannot stand to see them in my yard. However what you described kinda sounds like a hawk kill. They defeather the bird before eating. We find feather piles around quite often and can always tell what kind of bird was eaten by the hawk. Mostly around here it is mourning doves and young robins. We have watched a hawk pull the feathers off its catch, they are quite efficient at doing this. The House Sparrow will kill another cavity nesting bird in a birdhouse/cavity, it pecks them to death mostly decimating the head of the other bird. It does not eat them and you will find an almost headless bird when you see the result of a House Sparrow kill. Donna

we are a litle different here just south of us 15 minutes drive is almost desert with sagebrush and a litle grass but 15 minutes north of here are high mountains. The juncos don't migrate but just change elevations with the weather and seasons. In late fall or early winter with the first snows the juncos show up. they stay most of the winter unless it'e extremely bad they head lower but in early spring they move uphill towards the mountains and forest and alpine tundras. but in late fall the cold and heavy snow drives them down here to the foothills and valleys. the cowbirds head south in fall with the blackbirds. but return early spring and i see most of the young cowbirds with the red wing blackbirds who get the job of feeding them.

I live near Portland and am not a native Oregonian--been here since 2001. I have found Oregonians to be friendly and polite. The Columbia River Gorge is a must see and there's plenty of hiking. Some of the waterfalls can be seen without a hike. Latourell Falls is one of my favorites. They'll be smaller that time of year because there's probably not going to be much snow melt from Mt. Hood. You could drive from Portland to Bend and spend a few nights there. Bend had been overrun with Californians, so there's good food and lodging there. There's some interesting volcanic landscaping in central Oregon, which I think you'd enjoy being from the east coast, where everything is eroded, geologically speaking. Smith Rock and the Painted Hills are pretty cool. Also Paulina Peak, which is a mountain of obsidian and like being on the moon, and Newberry Crater. I got this from their website: The crater boasts one of the most amazing collections of geological wonders found anywhere in the Pacific Northwest: cinder cones, lava flows, waterfalls, crater lakes, several gigantic obsidian flows, jagged cliffs, and steep yet forested crater walls. All of this can be seen from or encountered on the climb to the summit of Paulina Peak. (It's a short, easy climb.) I've never been to Crater Lake--just never seemed worth the drive. But from the lake you could then drive back up 5 to 42 out to the coast at Bandon. That's a pretty area and a good place to start the drive north up the coast. I haven't driven 42 but I imagine it's a long slow drive, but any drive out to the coast is. I would see the coast between Bandon and Newport because of the tide pools and wilder aspects of the coast line. At Lincoln City you could head inland to McMinnville, which is kind of a foodie place. Then go to a few wineries in the Dundee area, where you're an hour from Portland. While Cannon Beach is a nice beach town (day trip for Portlanders), there's not much between Cannon Beach and Lincoln City. It's inland and there's only the Tillamook Cheese Factory (whoop-de-do), and that adds 1 1/2 -2 hours to your drive. If you do go to Cannon Beach, go to Ecola State Park and take the drive through the forest to Indian Beach. Order their travel guides--they're excellent for having in the car with you so you know what to see. Oregon Travel Guides