The goldfinches are going to eat me out of the house, the home goes to the rest of the birds. My son gave me last year a 3' finchfeeder with a spiral running down intstead of perches and lots of openings. That thing got so popular that I had to refill every two days with thistle feed. I finally switched to mixture of finch food and a couple of cups of thistle seed. Mourning doves and cardinals are usually the first visitors in the morning. Most days there are anywhere between 20 and 30 on the early morning shift, 3 pairs stay mosts of the day. The jays come through a little bit later and after the first feeding there are always a couple around to see if I might throw out a handful of peanunts. They then alert the rest of the bunch. Sparrows of all kinds and juncos, as well as rosy and house finches belong to the making the rounds crew. Less predictable are the visits from the grossbeaks and the buntings. The most sociable visitors, besides the squirrels, are the chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and the finally returned downies. The hairy, redbellied and redheaded woodpeckers are more alert to my movements. If I need entertainment, all I have to do is look or go outside.

Hey ChickaDDD, I know what you mean about Chicklet's story. He sounds super natural or something. Sleeping on roof, resetting his own arm, Typhoon or something and his birthday. WOW. But like you said if it is true your are surely helping them and thats all that matters. I must have missed it when the unwelcoming committee killed a catbird chick. That is awful!!! And it is not FUN to get rid of HOSP. I dont know why they would say that and it makes me sick. I cant believe they said it was fun, that is disgusting and shows how stupid they are. I hope you dont dislike ME for it but I have seen them with my own eyes terrorize my other birds and not just the cavity nesters, but i dont enjoy it. I just want to save my other birds. They were after Braveheart today when he and Scardycat would try to feed their babies AND they are building two nests in two of my boxes right now :-( When papa tries to bring food they jump him and fall to the ground. It is just pure harassment and today i noticed his right eye was closed up. I dont think it was the HOSP because he was fighting two mockers today too and they probably got fed up with him getting in the middle and decided to kick him around awhile. My blue is insane they are twice his size. But now he will be at risk of hawk attack because he cant see from that side. Ahhhhhhh SIGH. I am having such stress this year with the bluebirds. I love them and all the birds except the HOSP and it is hard on me because I worry so about the birds. My other little sparrows are building in my holly bush that the robins used three times this year ( they were busy ), you know the little ones that i keep blowing there little babies out of the bush. So at least i know where they are this time and wont blow them out. Birds are so funny. She fusses at me every time i go out there but then builds her nest right in my back steps. Go figure :-) Why would they kill a catbird? I dont understand that, it must have been before i joined because i dont remember seeing it. Do you know what month and maybe i can go back and find that post. That is very disturbing, maybe they are just animal killers? Maybe they do enjoy it. They almost had me convinced that the house wrens were evil till Bet got on there. Maybe they kill all birds except bluebirds. That's sick :-( Well im glad you didn't have any little jets get confused and end up in your house today :-) Maybe they realized that outside is where they belong. Hopefully for you and your families sake. All summer without air conditioning is a horrible thought for me. You are a very strong and sweet person to sacrifice your comfort for the little jets. I bet Daisy was hot too with all that hair. My Mary is very hairy like that ( 4 layers of fur ) and she doesn't even like to be outside in the summer. We are very spoiled. Im glad your kitties got bored with the swifts, i know you were blaming yourself for the deaths but you didn't know they were coming so im glad all is good now :-) I better go because this is long but i know i could talk a lot more!!! LOL. She who is to long winded~~~~~~~Bonnie

Great pics, All! Claire, I am happy to hear that the Butter Buns have returned to Plymouth! Mine are enjoying the suet but I still seem to have only two. I am also seeing what I think my be a Pine Warbler. I have seen them before but always closer to the end of the PFW season, closer to spring. I have not been able to get a good picture of it yet but I am trying. Oh...I did see a brown creeper yesterday, the first in two years! I was so excited, just wish it had been a count day... Has anyone noticed what time the birds leave your feeders in the afternoon? Right now, the end of January, I know that almost all activity at the feeders will come to an end by *about* 3:00. I will still see cardinals and some doves beyond that point, but not many chickadees, titmouse, finches, juncos, etc. We still have good light, the temps have not yet started to drop but the birds are gone. Have they had enough, are they full? Is it just me? I also notice lots and lots of activity just before a storm. The birds will eat and eat and eat, but the next day there will be very little activity. Very interesting to see. Obviously, the birds are smarter than me. sooey

I can't say I totally agree with the above. Sure, I have many hawks at my house, but there are a few ways you can deter them slightly. First, keep your feeders right by a shelter (an evergreen bush, shrub, etc. is fine) or put large nesting boxes out to hide from predators when needed. Another thing I would do is keep feeders that give hawks a hard time at reaching- ie, caged feeders, or in your case, covered ground feeders. One idea is to feed the birds on/off every week or two so that the hawk doesn't see the yard as a steady feeding area. Also, keep in mind, hawks and owls don't generally eat birds that often, it is falcons and kites you should really worry about... But then again, winter really pushes the boundaries a bit. Of course there are things you can do, but none are foolproof. Embothrium, of you're reading, as long as the areas are cleaned and sanitized each season, bird feeding is great for the birds as it is a healthy source of food. Winter is especially hard, and there will be less disease in winter.... Lazy_Gardens, as I mentioned, agreed, but it doesn't have to be predictable. Rockybird, if the hawk nests very close to you, you may have a bigger problem, but if it's farther away you should be okay if you take into consideration the above (with hopefully less casualties:), and do you know what type of hawk you are dealing with? I only have experience with red tailed hawks. Good luck :).