Hi Mary. A fellow 'sconnie, Norway spruce are among my very favorite species, and yes, yours look pretty good. If you or someone you know has a pole saw, it is amazing how much of an improvement in appearance can be made by an hour or two of work taking off dead branches within reach of the tool. It's easy and satisfying work with a great payoff. Other than that, about the only possible thing that could matter to these trees at this point would be to watch for dry conditions. As you state yourself to be in zone 4, methinks you are somewhere in the northern part of our state, which is still sadly missing nearly every storm system that comes through. But........keep in mind....this may not be necessary at all and if you do decide to water these trees, you really need to water a very large area under and around them. Glad you are so interested and knowledgeable about trees and their associates! +oM

Thanks Konrad. Its a pretty dark picture. After searching for images on the internet, I think I'm inclined to think its a young starling. I read that both cowbirds and starlings walk instead of hop, so I'm thinking starling. There have been several adult starlings around, but never with this little one. Maybe I'll try to lighten the pic. I should have done that to start with.

Thank you so much!! I will do that. First I better tell you the area we're in. We live in Illinois between the Mississippi River and Rock River in the Quad Cities (Ever hear of the Rock Island lines or John Deere of Moline, Illinois?...well, we're from the Rock Island/Moline area.) Here is the wading bird that's so dark looking. I'm so sorry these photos are so small and hard to see...there was a huge marshy area between me and the birds. I'm in the market for a better zoom lens, but WOW have you seen the price of them?? This is the swooper...some sort of plover or sandpiper maybe? At first I thought it was a swallow of some sort...then when I saw the photo I thought maybe a killdeer, but I don't think so. Sorry these are poor photos too...it flashed by me so quickly, I just snapped away as a spur of the moment thing! Would someone please confirm that this is a female redwing blackbird? This one was from a different day in the woods. There were lots of orioles, bluebirds, red-bellied woodpeckers, and a myriad of other birds in this area. I was wondering if it could be a female oriole...the tail doesn't seem long enough. Again, sorry for the quality, it was a long way away from me. I did unspeakable things to this photo to get it to even show any markings but the color is just not there. Thanks so much for any help! Ginni (the bird challenged)

The guy I took a photo of (#2) didn't move, no tail pumping...so I don't think it was an Eastern Phoebe and I looked up both in all my bird references and none showed either with a yellowish beak...only flycatchers seemed to have a yellow beak. It's hard to tell tho. I've been doing some more searching and wonder if it could be either an Alder Flycatcher or a Willow Flycatcher. Both are in my area in Illinois this time of year and both seem to have a yellowish beak ...the problem is, according my my sources there's no way to tell one from the other except by their song, so it could be either one of them. The only thing maybe would be that I saw this one right next to a river in a wooded area. I think it was the Willow Flycatcher that lives in that sort of habitat. I wish I knew...either would be new birds for my sister and me tho so I'm pleased if it is one of them. Thanks for all the comments and ideas! I really appreciate it!