Suzanne you left out the part about: The brown stinky stuff in the road you just ran over is manure either from the dairy farm down the road or the neighbor's horses. Great fertilizer also but it IS messy when it's thrown from tractor tires or it falls off the truck during transport. Don't put the top down on your cute little car and don't call to complain about it either. Welcome to the country. For Eagle fans here's a link for you. Click on live Eagle cam and enjoy. Here is a link that might be useful: Eagle Cam

I am just finishing a spring til now battle of this pictured devil. I am not sure where it came from; but, before my sister identified it as "Bishop's weed" (my original thought was it was a type of bird seed as it started below a bird feeder)?? I had managed to spread it from one area to a 3 garden infestation!! All these have been dug up and watched like a hawk for tell tale signs of reemergence. One garden was NOT bordered and it soon began spreading in my lawn. God help me!! :-(( Many days of hands and knee plucking and a wonderful lawn growth seems to have killed it there. I am about looking forward to more plant division/rekindling the bare earth..this time with a "bare root" (and only desirable plant roots thank you very much!) approach! GRR! Oh yes..and the variegated version is flourishing too in a shaded and a northern exposure...HMMM!

Alright now! You guys are confusin me! Ive checked my books and Ive googled a bunch of pictures onlineand I dont know what it was that was here. The pic of the bird I posted is a little misleading. The bird I saw was WAY browner than it looks in the pics. I know, I knowdont go by the color! And its sitting on the branch with its back toward me. I was amazed that I was able to get a pic when it turned its head in my direction briefly a couple times. Heres the third pic I got where you can (kinda) see that its facing away from mebut its the worst quality pic. I figured out why the pictures from upstairs are distorted! Theyre taken thru the screenand the birds on the feeders in the backyard look even worse because of the "down" angle of the camera thru the screen. The BIG bird isnt quite as bad since the neighbors yard is higher than mine, so it was taken on somewhat more of the same level with me. In the second pic above the bird had turned a little bit more sideways, but its still sitting on the branch facing away from me. With all the pictures Ive looked at, I really dont know, now, what it was. I first saw it on top of the lattice at my back fence, which is only about 25' away from the windowI have a very shallow backyardand I sure didnt notice any black eye stripe or black and white head striping. Actually, I didnt notice any black or gray at all. It sat on that branch and I watched it for close to 10 minutes. Tho the pic doesnt show it, it was brown and tan. I guess I havent found any immature pics, cause all the ones Ive found are very much gray to dark gray. I think the tail pointing down so much in the pic was as much a balancing act as anything. The branch it was on was very long and pretty small for such a large bird (at least 15-18"), and it was moving around a lot. So I dont think the position of the tail is telling in this case. And then theres still the problem of what the first bird I saw wasthe purpose of this post. It was really VERY different. When I saw the second one the next day I assumed it was a pair since males and females can be quite different in size and colorand since a lot of birds do travel around in pairs, but the closest picture Ive found yet of the original bird is the first pic I linked of the Gray Hawkwhich we all agree is wasnt! But it was exactly like that picture, but lighteralmost whitewith very obvious, wide, dark banding on the tailwhich was very widely fanned when it flew away. Maybe I just need to concede thatunless one or both come back and I get better picturesIm never going to know for sure what they were. Whatever they were, Im glad I got to see them! Skybird (who is easily identifiable by the arms and legsand the uniform!) P.S. Digit, my pair of robins (that are here all winter) nest in my backyard every year, but that obviously has nothing to do with the feeders. I do think it might have to do with the constant water sourceand the easy access to worms in the worked soil in the veggie garden. And there was a nest in one of the neighbors cottonwoods that overhangs my yard, but I dont know what was in it! I only know it was there because its been falling into my backyard all fall and winter! Other than that I havent seen any other nests, but then I dont actually have any deciduous trees, and Ive never seen any nests in the two upright junipersand I dont have any bird houses out since I dont have anywhere to hang them. Wait! I've had a house sparrow nest in the Euonymous that grows up the side of my house right by the steps down off of the deck every year! Do they count as birds? They've been building it on top of the bend in the downspout where they were completely hidden by the foliage. But they won't be back! I've pulled almost all of the Euonymous down! It was growing up under the siding and the shingles!

I don't think your area is too open for song birds. How long have you been feeding in that location? Deep snow cover will push birds south, even if they winter in your area. Your hawk doesn't sound like an Accitper, the lean Hawks that routinely attack feeders. In my experience, Accipters rarely perch in the open, like on a barn for more than a brief amount of time. They are usually inside the tree canopy. Killing a weasel also suggests its more likely a Buteo Hawk, the big stocky hawks that mainly feed on rodents. Buteos are usually on open perches, along the higways, on telephone poles, on buildings, etc. Accipters usually need the element of surprise to catch a healthy adult bird. In the summer time, adult birds will usually mob them and pester then until they leave the area. This time of year, all the song birds are adults and wise. Accipters usually rely on the stealth, below the horizon attack this time of year. They fly really close to the ground and charge into areas they anticipate birds to be and grab any bird that doenst flush in time. I've seen them make attacks on my feeder when its empty. They build up speed and come around the corner the house ambush the feeder. They will make a J turn around the feeder pole and almost touch the ground (right where the Doves would normally be). They do this even without any birds present. Even using this strategy, I've seen doves escape, usually losing a few feathers. Being out in the open makes its hard for the Hawk to get the element of surprise with lots of eyes watching and no terrian to take advantage of. Now, in the summer time with fledgings everywhere, Accipters can catch them without the element of surprise. If you get alot of accipter attacks, you can try a decoy. Since the hawk usually goes for the last bird to move when attacking. Purple Martin landlords use these to reduce the chances for success. But I don't think your lack of birds is related to the hawk. I've seen our birds spot an accipter 200 yards away and freeze. A Buteo hawk could be perched 50 yards away and they would be indifferent to it, except when nesting.