I think the chickadees, titmice and downies have had a bumper crop this year! I've never seen (or heard) so many dee-dee-dee's before, it's so fun! So far I've only seen one young red-bellied but they maybe only bringing one at a time to the feeder. And just one young cardinal - which really is not a bad thing, I can only imagine what it will be like if all 70 cardinals from last winter bring all there babies to the feeders - I'll have to take out a loan for birdseed. I've also seen house wren, phoebe and catbird fledglings. This evening I was following a spread-wing damselfly through the woods and I heard a bobwhite! We haven't had any in several years so I was really thrilled to hear it. I thought about trying to track it down but the mosquitos were eating me up alive! And the buck was stomping and snorting at me since I was standing in his bed :^)

Let's close this thread. It dates back to early 2015 and is way too long and it confuses people when they see two Birds and other mobile features... threads going at the same time. There's a later thread, Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2015 #11, that's current and will continue until it gets too long and the 2016 threads start. In general, I have no problem if people want to continue a discussion on an earlier thread with relevant comment, but newer posts are better put in context with newer threads (that sounds a little convoluted but I hope it makes sense). Claire

Great photos everyone! I had about 30 turkey's come visit two days ago. Now, normally that is not that original, but about a half dozen decided to get up onto my back deck and perch on the railing and table. One of them was about four feet away from where I was sitting in the house and I'm pretty sure was trying telepathically to tell me to put out more seed. They were very rambunctious pecking at one another and jumping straight up into the air right in front of my den window. It was hilarious! Love those big birds. Claire, I'm not sure they've ever been on the roof here. We've had a handful of vultures land once in a while, but never turkeys. This morning, I'm so very certain we saw a Carolna Wren. My folks live in NC, so I'm keen on what they look like. I looked up house wren just in case, and it was not a match. I was very surprised to see one. Should I be? Has anyone else seen them in the winter? This was a first for me. I know they can handle cold temps, but this threw me off a bit.

I've been hibernating but spring seems to be sneaking in. We might have 6 bluebirds and have seen one standing guard on each of two bluebird boxes so I hope they will nest although we've always had bluebirds so they nest in the wild someplace close by. Yesterday a cardinal appeared and will probably be the only time we see a cardinal this year. Our feeders never measure up. I've heard of people putting out shelled seeds and mealy worms but a local birder said I shouldn't put out mealy worms because birds are supposed to find their own worms. Two red-winged blackbirds have also arrived and are spending time at the feeders and pecking at the suet. We won't see them in the yard later on when they move to the marshy area and sing from the cattails. I've seen one rusty capped sparrow but we might have more. Mourning doves and, of course, jays are around. Also a hawk but we haven't seen it close enough to identify. The other bird behavior we saw for the first time but the local birder said was quite common was at least 4 birds going into a bluebird box during a snowstorm. We also think the sparrows will take shelter under our small front porch. About two days ago the deer started coming out of the woods. There's not much snow in the fields anymore. Last night I only saw one but the afternoon before, my husband counted 8. Our neighbor farmer curses their fondness for his clover in the hayfield. I, too, appreciate the photos and Claire's maintenance. It's so nice to see what's happening around New England. I'm just north of Concord and west of NHBabs.