Holy Crap...Claire, that picture of the Red-winged Blackbirds is wonderful! That red really jumps out at you. I've never seen them in a flock like that. How lucky you are to have such a view from your window. And wild Turkey...are they not the strangest big birds you have ever seen walking? We had them by the hundreds in CT. They would troop through our woods/yard and kick up all sorts of ground litter. You could mark their path as they moved on. Like a flock of big ol' chickens. And yes, I know full well about the bird poop v gray car issue. But, better gray then black or navy... I have heard back from PFW. The final word is...Pine Warbler. Anne Marie said that their song is much like the Chipping Sparrow, as is the song of the Junco. I did not know that. I do not have many Junco, a hand full at most. I don't think I have ever heard them in song but, now I know what to listen for. Something else that I have learned from PFW. terrene...I can not say that I have ever seen a Chipping Sparrow up close. I see them during the nesting season, only with my field glasses, up in the tops of the pine trees, singing their little hearts out...marking their territory I think. Such a loud song from such a small bird. As I recall, they have a chestnut crown with a light eyebrow and a black/dark eyeline? Their underparts are a light gray...that I know. A very sweet little bird. I'm getting better with my Sparrow ID...just in time to start work on the Warblers... I will now be watching for the Chipping Sparrow with my new, more educated eye. We use to see the Purple Finch a lot in our yard but that is going waaaay back...15 years at least. I saw one this season and almost jumped for joy. We get a lot of House Finch which are nice, but the Purple Finch is always a special find... The Red-belly Woodpeckers in our yard still love the grocery store suet. I have seen the female at the tube feeder that holds the sunflower hearts. A sight to see. I have been seeing the Bluebirds almost every day. I think they may be here to stay. I am going out in just a little bit to get another Bluebird box. I have one in the front yard but I think they may like one in the back yard, a bit farther away from the house. I'm still thinking about those mealworms... sooey who is seeing lots and lots of busy little birds out there...

George, I know that if you were starting plants for yourself, you wouldn't be starting them now....just like y'all know me well enough to know I generally don't start seeds until February. It did take me a few years here to learn the best time to start seeds because at first I started them in late January like I did when we lived in Texas, and that's too early for our area even though we warm up fairly early some years. I'd have tomato and peppers plant that were 18" tall before it was warm enough to get them into the ground. Even in those years when we warm up early, only the days tend to be warm or even hot and the nights still tend to go below freezing. If I plant too early, I pay for it by having to cover up plants on freezing nights for weeks, and that gets old. Ironically, the county in northeastern Texas where the master gardener who was on TV this week is from is under a Winter Weather Advisory and very well may have some sort of wintery mix including snow, sleet or freezing rain as early as Saturday or Sunday. I hope his little seedlings (they looked like pepper seedlings too) get to come inside from the greenhouse to stay warm....or he might run up a big bill heating a greenhouse in those conditions. Apparently my garden's problem is that it does not sit on a pile of rocks, and now I'm wishing it did. Maybe I could fix the drainage issue by excavating soil and putting rocks beneath my garden! Really, the problem is that the neighbors property is a lot higher and their runoff drains onto our property, so I can't fix that. Since their property sits so high above ours, even my raised beds can stay too wet because their water runs off/seeps underground for weeks in heavy rainfall years and then wicks up into my raised beds from the grade level soil. I am glad we're about to get cold. We have had some very, very warm days here scattered throughout December and January and my fruit trees are budding and trying to bloom too early....same story as every other winter here, so I'm hoping a good, cold arctic blast will tell them to 'chill out' and slow down a bit. Dawn

I feed the birds, my parents have two suet baskets that sure go fast and they are constantly having to buy suet to put in them. And I tend to feeding the birds, black oil sunflowers as they do love those alot and go through them tons and tons when its so cold and snowy. We buy major birdseed and also loose peanuts, not in their shells and then buy this smaller bag for tiny birds to enjoy eating. I give out lots when we have had our winter storms some years and snow and cold talk about how fast they go through all that during that time but they need it. And don't forget the winter hummingbirds too as found out one winter storm and it was bitter cold outside for us living here on west side of canada on island and a hummingbird came along and it was being taken in and thawed and the other one put out and they rotated them my parents did. Our birdbath is frozen I noticed and so yes, they must find it themselves but the water is in creeks, streams that isn't during the summer months. I have to laugh as we have one area by the back door I use from my suite and its bent and so it really fills up with water and birds bath themselves in it. I will come out and go what is that noise and see water and wings going like crazy, even in the winter they do it too. We have small, medium, large size woodpeckers, we used to have doves but haven't seen any this year at all. We get tons of chickadees which I love and they are so friendly and they see me coming to the area I throw out the food for them and its like hurry, hurry and then I throw the peanuts and they dive and I go watch out here is the seed and I throw it in. We have other birds too and lots are pecking on the ground where parents gardener put mulches leaves and they go after berries too on the trees. Its nice to see the different birds and to watch them I love to do.

Thanks Pea but it seems so unlikely that something happened to both parents. Wouldn't at least one of the parents come back to the nest if something happened to the other ? Rat poison is no longer legal in NYC, dry ice is used instead which wouldn't affect a predator.