Wow! I've seen them flock but not in those numbers! They gather in an empty lot next to where I work and we watch their aerial stunts, it's like they play follow the leader but the leader changes every few moments. What's interesting is that two of our most invasive alien species of birds (european starlings and house sparrows) are both considered endangered in Britain. Makes you wonder if they don't get to the point where the species has outgrown it's natural boundaries and begins to decline. I know I would gladly ship all my starlings over there! We have another winter storm moving through tonight and the birds seemed to know as they were all very actively feeding at dusk. Typically the last birds that I see in the evening are cardinals and tonight when I looked out I counted 43! That was just at the back feeders so I'm sure that count is low. I tried to get a picture of as many as possible but the best I could do was 17. Taken through the window with flash so not my best but you get the idea ... Here is a link that might be useful:

terrene: Like sooey, I only count the time actually spent watching the birds. For me, this is usually 1 to 4 hours (estimated); just spread out over the whole two days. I spent more time for the Christmas Bird Count, which was one of my two PFW days, so I called that 4 to 8 hours total. Most of my productive counting is done in the early morning hours when the birds are feeding after a long night. I'll often look at my tally sheet around 10 or 11 am and see that most of the regulars are there. There's another burst of activity after I refill the feeders in the late afternoon. I do this so that there will be plenty of food in the morning and I won't feel pressured to get out there early. The rest of the day is for stragglers and fine-tuning the count. sooey: I don't really hear the cardinals in the winter - my windows are pretty tight. The Mourning Doves are a different issue. They come at dusk, but they're so wary (I think because of the hawks) that I usually don't see them. Often I'll see 2 or 3 at a time during the daytime, but when I go out to refill the feeders I'll hear that squealing sound of a flock of panicky doves taking flight. If I look up fast, I can get a rough count of the flock, maybe 10 or 12. The other birds that come at dusk with the cardinals are the native sparrows, but these are really hard to identify - little brown birds in the shadow of a big shrub. Claire

Great pics. Esp. the first one, that woodpecker is looking tough. I think it was on this forum someone once said woodpeckers are like "wanna rumble?" & I always think that when they intimidate other birds....The only time I've seen a woody scared is when there must have been a hawk in the tree-he stayed stock still right on the suet block for almost 30 minutes. The flicker gave lots of angles for viewing, and I like the one w/2 different woodpeckers. Cardinal & nuthatch round it out nicely, we're only missing a chickadee, where was he? jk Thanks for posting.

Thanks so much for the great pictures. I've always wanted to see a Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker. I love seeing your photos.