Hey, Zach! When did
you move? If you said something around
here sometime I must have missed it—since the nasty popup is still here I
haven’t been checking in very often!

What’s gonna happen to all the gardens/plants you were
putting in at your in-law’s? Will you
still be gardening there in summer? Are
you looking for a “place with a yard???”
At least you still get to see the “wildlife” at your job!

I LOVE your cedar waxwing pic! But then your pics are always good!

I looked up hawthorn trees/bushes to see if that’s something
I could possibly put in—but they’re way too big for the space I have! Looks like the birds LOVE the berries!

Are you on the ground floor where you are now? I can’t imagine you couldn’t put up a
feeder—as long as you keep the mess under it cleaned up! Or even if you’re on a higher floor and have
a balcony, a suet feeder with a “tray” of some sort under it to contain the
mess! (That’s what the black plant tray
is under my suet feeders for in the pics on the O’Toole’s thread! Without something to catch “the droppings”
the suet “stains” the stepping stones under the feeders.) I sure hope you’ll be able to put up
SOMETHING for the birds! I can hardly
believe how many birds you’ve seen in your immediate area! But then, if you Feed Them, They Will
Come! And it looks like the hawthorns
are providing lots of Good Eats!

I just got my suet put out a couple days ago, and I had my
first flicker of this winter out there on it today! (Hope I get to see some yellow ones again
this year!) I have chickadees (my
personal favorite!) around too—I hear them in the neighbor’s yards, but since I
got the Bell’s Palsy I can’t whistle anymore so I can’t call them into my yard
anymore! VERY disappointing! Much of the time I just hear them and don’t
see them at my feeders—at least not nearly as often as when I could whistle to
them to call them!

I had a couple blue jays around briefly yesterday. And, wasn’t planning to put it up yet, but
saw a couple big black birds in the dead cottonwood behind me so I got out and
set up my Blackbird Dispersal System! It
was COLD out there trying the get the fishing line untangled and going “around”
all the right places to get it into my family room window so I can make the
“disperser” “move” when they show up!
But—I really think the two birds I saw (high in the tree) were too big
to be blackbirds! I suspect they were
crows—but I didn’t hear them cawing, so possibly they were ravens—BUT—I’ve
never seen a raven here in Denver! The
only time I see them is out in the National Parks! But if you say you’ve seen them, maybe they
are around here.

Yesterday I put out a new (old but haven’t used it for a
couple years!) feeder, and right after I came back in I was waiting for the
birds to “fly back in” when all of a sudden a hawk (big, but I couldn’t tell
what it was!) showed up on the fence—and after that the “little birds” weren’t
back for quite a while! The feeder I put
back out is a tube feeder (with metal chew-proof ports!) that I can use again
now since I’ve finally figured out how to keep the squirrels down on the
ground! When I first got it, it was
always empty—if ya know what I mean!!!

Since you started a Bird Thread, I’ll post a heads-up here
that the GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
will be FEBRUARY 17 through 20 this
year—well, 2017! I still keep hoping the
Nasty Popup will Go Away, but, regardless, I’ll come post closer to the Bird
Count time to remind everyone to help count the birds! But, if you’re interested, put it on your
calendar!

Gonna go post more over on “the other” thread!

Skybird

We moved back in the beginning of September, so it hasn't been too long. I'm not sure what going to happen to "my" gardens. Mom wants to sell the house come spring, dad isn't so sure. I would be kind of sad to see them go, but if they do sell, I will probably try to take divisions of things and relocate them. Grasses will be easy, other things wont be. We'd love to have a place with a yard, unfortunately the housing market in the Denver area is unbelievable. Not sure what the big attraction is, but affordable housing, renting or buying, is harder to find than a unicorn on the Front Range these days. Anyway....

You know I'm surprised that these birds were so attracted to the hawthorns. The only time I have ever seen anything eat them was at the very end of winter when nothing else was left haha. I guess different birds have different tastes and moods, too! They are very ornamental trees as well, and will hold the fruits (so long as the birds don't eat them all) through the winter, adding some nice color come January when color can be hard to find.

I just looked over the lease agreement and there's nothing that specifically says we cant feed the birds, but there's a lot of things that basically amount to "everything you do, in or out, is subject to our discretion and whims." This renting thing is, pun intended, for the birds! I'll probably put one up anyhow just to see what happens. Wild Birds has a "no mess" blend that doesn't have shells, so that will help with limiting messiness. We are on the ground floor, so that helps. Of course the fact I have to pick up cigarette buts and sweep up ashes on my patio from the folks above me doesn't seem to bother anyone so why should the birds, right?

Yeah, I'm with you on the cold. I hung Christmas Lights yesterday (as Clark Griswold would say "we're the jolliest bunch of a--holes this side of the nuthouse!") and by were my fingers aching! I can't imagine having to untangle fishing line out there in it. But, it had to come sometime. I'll admit, 80 degrees in November was pushing it, even for me. Course, I'll be signing a different tune come March when it's only 15 out there!

We do indeed have ravens! This was this past winter at mom's house but I've seen them everywhere around town really. The big guy in front with the "beard" and the "honker" of a nose is the raven, the other two are crows.

Speaking of hawks, and raptors, the eagles have begun to show up at work! My season ended the week of Thanksgiving, but I think 30 had been counted by then. Last year, the high count in January or February was 80-90. We also opened up a whole bunch of new auto-access for folks to drive around. So, if anyone is bored this winter, it's good way to spend a morning or afternoon.

Songbird - z5, said: I LOVE your cedar waxwing pic! But then your pics are always good!

I agree!

Today, I saw 2 robins. They were hanging out with a couple of song sparrows and an Oregon junco.

About 2 days ago, I saw a flock of robins! They were up in the sky. If they know what is good for them, they better have headed off to southern climes. These were the first robins I've seen recently. I usually don't see them for months and months, through this time of the year.

Steve

I love the pics, Zach! I've never seen a cedar waxwing before. What a beautiful bird!

I was going to fill the feeders when I got home tonight, but the wind is ripping and I see all the seed has blown away, including from the thistle feeder. It seems like a fruitless endeavor until it quits. I did load up the feeders this weekend, hoping a little extra will see the birds through this coming storm.

Update - I just heard a thump/crash outside and the wind has ripped the lantern feeder out of the tree. I picked it up and it doesn't seem to be broken, but I'm not going to try to put it back tonight. It's time to stay inside. Brrrr!

Barb

I just posted this over on the O'Toole's thread, but since this is "the bird thread," I'm gonna post it here too! There's a lot of info about different feeders and seed and where to possibly get them, and I think most people won't see it on the O'Toole;s thread! Exact same post, so no need to read it twice if you look at both thread!!!

I added a couple more new-old feeders to my posts today, so now I have 11 up! Took the one suet feeder down that was near the branches--trying to get rid of the rats--I mean, house sparrows! They're still trying to hang on the other suet feeder, but I think they'll give up before long! Hoping!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Originally posted on the O'Toole"s thread in reply to Liz!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz, I’m surprised you find Amazon to be a good deal! In the last week I bought several things
online, and 3 (or 4?) of them were from eBay!
Every time I’m looking for something I start with Walmart and eBay, and
then I usually check on Amazon just to be sure they don’t have a better
deal—and I, only VERY rarely, find a better deal on Amazon! Usually the item itself is higher than WM or eBay,
and then I almost always have to add shipping for Amazon. After this last week I’m about to stop
wasting time even checking Amazon! I
have bought things from them a couple times—but that seems to be the exception
to the rule for me! (This past spring I
found Soil Moist polymer on Amazon, 30 lbs. for $200.00—with free
shipping—which beat eBay, Greenhouse Megastore, and a couple other places! Every now and then they do come out the best!)

With eBay I just set the search parameters for things with
free shipping and then look to see what I can find.

I had never even thought about looking on Amazon—or eBay for
feeders, but decided to give it a try when I saw your post, and here’s an
example of what I’m talking about! When
I first started looking I was finding all kinds of cheap things (a single suet
cake for $1.50), and then there was anywhere from 5.00 to 10.00 added on just
for shipping! I don’t care if you’re
shipping it around the world ten times, it doesn’t’ cost $10 to ship one suet
cake! I looked thru a whole buncha pages
with stuff like that, and this just happened to be on the page where I decided
to stop looking. It a cheapie plastic thistle
feeder for $12.01—which is WAY overprices for what it is, and THEN they want
$9.79 SHIPPING! That makes it $21.80 for
a cheap plastic feeder that shouldn’t, under any circumstances, be more than
$5! Ok, so it’s a Droll Yankees
product! They used to make really good
stuff, fairly expensive, but a good product.
That was years ago! Now their
prices have doubled—and half their stuff is “Walmart made in China cheap!” So I don’t know what the “MSRP” is for this
plastic feeder, but even if the $12 is anywhere near the suggested price, the
extra almost $10 shipping makes it outrageous!

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_4?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A2972638011%2Cn%3A553788%2Cn%3A553632%2Cn%3A4532514011%2Ck%3Awild+bird+feeders%2Cp_n_feature_ten_browse-bin%3A3587765011&page=4&sort=price-asc-rank&keywords=wild+bird+feeders&ie=UTF8&qid=1481085129

Having said all that, if you or Misty, or anybody is
interested in a pretty good METAL thistle feeder, I found a really good one at
King Soopers for $10—actually, it’s $9-something! It’s a black metal “tube,” and I’ve seen it
in 2 or 3 stores, so I kind of assume it’s in most of their stores! ALSO, if anybody wants just a thistle “sock”
(which is what I’ve used for years till if found the one at KS), you can get
them—filled with thistle seed—at WM for somewhere around $5. That would be the same thing as shown in this
pic on eBay, where they want $20.40 for
it!!! But, hey, the shipping is
free!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wild-life-Accessories-S-10014-Thistle-Sock-Small-/391439223374?hash=item5b23988a4e:g:oDkAAOSwXshWsdsO

After I gave up on Amazon I decide to see what I could see
on eBay for feeders, and it’s beyond me how they can get (either place) what
they’re asking for most of these feeders!
I guess I have to assume that most of the people ordering them just
don’t have a clue how much they should cost!
(About a year ago I found a “pet store” in Wisconsin that had some flour
moth traps I wanted, so I looked thru the rest of their wild bird stuff and I
got some (empty) thistle socks that were 2 in a box for $5, so $2.50 each! I ordered a couple boxes of them since they
were so cheap—and all my old ones were starting to disintegrate—and the
neighbor CAT had torn some of them wide open with its claws when it tried to
hang onto something to EAT my birds! But
for starting to feed thistle, I recommend a pre-filled sock from WM!

I highly recommend feeding suet in winter—it’ll attract
hairy/downy woodpeckers, flickers, and some other things—occasionally a
nuthatch and a couple more. (And
squirrels!) Suet feeding is relatively
cheap—well, if you’re not buying on Amazon or eBay—from what I saw! A suet cage at WM used to be a couple
dollars, but it looks like they changed brands and it’s now $5! But when I searched I noticed that Home Depot
still has them for $3! Then I noticed
that the Drs. Foster ad was the next ad—and I remembered that that was the
place in Wisconsin I ordered from! Their
price is 2.99 too, if you get up to minimum $19 order for free shipping—which
is way better than the Amazon minimum of $49!

https://www.google.com/search?q=suet+cage&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=suet+cage+walmart

When I saw the name of Drs. Foster I went back and
discovered I still had the links for the things I had ordered, so here’s some
more info! Remember there’s a $19
minimum order for free shipping!

Here’s the thistle socks I got.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9089+10468+14468+21987&pcatid=21987

I didn’t get one—already have enough!, but here’s their suet
cage.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9089+10468+27369&pcatid=27369

The other thing I got from this place was a new birdbath
defroster. These things are usually very
expensive—no matter the brand, and this is about the best price for a defroster
I’ve ever found! I got the 75 watt
one—my “birdbath” is a BIG plastic plant saucer, so there’s quite a volume of
water! It MORE than keeps the water
“defrosted”—as a matter of fact, at times it borders on “warm,” which is really
not the intent of a defroster! They’re
just supposed to keep the water from freezing!
I also like “this kind” because it has a “flat surface” that the birds
can stand on—most defrosters have exposed “coils!” There’s also a 50 watt one—here are links to
both. (The last defroster I got before
this one was almost $50!)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9089+8776+18099&pcatid=18099

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=10507&cmpid=10cseYY&ref=XXXX&subref=AA%26catargetid=530005150000154233%26cadevice=c%3Fref=6111%26cmpid=10csegb&gclid=COaNhKbN6MgCFQiQaQod03gL8w

For the suet cakes that go in the suet cage I very highly
recommend getting them at WM! Their suet
cakes range from 90-some cents to $1.29 each.
I HIGHLY recommend the Peanut Delight No Melt Suet Dough! I’ve been using this one for several years
now, and over the years I’ve bought others to compare them and, invariably,
this is the type that gets gone before all the others! Yesterday I just bought 10 more of them and
they were $1.29 each at WM. There have
been times, at other WMs, that I was only charged 90-something for them. I think the people inputting the prices in
the computer get mixed up, but I’ve never paid over $1.29 for them!

https://www.southernstates.com/catalog/images/Product/large/06667001.jpg

For a basic tube feeder, this isn’t too bad a price! It has 4 METAL ports, meaning the squirrels
can’t “destroy” the feeder even if they do get on it—but they CAN eat all the
seed! Another advantage of this one is
that it has a tray on the bottom, which keeps the seeds that inevitably fall
out of the ports on the tray, rather than on the ground where the squirrels eat
them! (When I’ve bought tube feeders
that did not have a tray I always improvise and attach some sort of a tray
myself!) Here are links to two sellers
on eBay, one for $29.89 and the other for $31.25—the cheaper seller has a
slightly better rating! (I sure don’t
understand why some of these links are so much longer than others!)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Perky-Pet-Deluxe-Seed-Silo-Wild-Bird-Feeder-with-Tray/172317735626?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38530%26meid%3D584669d94125420cb57400eb55f44943%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D151849939036&rt=nc

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Perky-Pet-112SCAN-Deluxe-Seed-Silo-Wild-Bird-Feeder-with-Tray-/151849939036?hash=item235af6305c:g:-CYAAOSwFNZW1Ph5

And here’s a WARNING about when you’re shopping on eBay—or
Amazon! Be sure you know what your
looking at! I found THIS for
$30.75! From the price one would assume
one was getting a whole bird feeder! One
would assume! All you’re getting in this
case for $30.75 is a TRAY that goes UNDER a feeder! THIRTY DOLLARS for a TRAY! Enuf said about that!!! (For one of my feeders I punched holes in and
attached a clear plastic coffee can lid to the bottom of the feeder!)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Droll-Yankees-CCT-S-Clear-Clever-Clean-Wild-Bird-Feeder-Bird-Seed-Tray-10-5in-/122236374456?hash=item1c75db0db8:g:1GkAAOSwux5YQCWI

AND----here is one of my favorite feeders! I got this a couple winters ago at Murdoch’s,
and have been looking for another one there every time I go there! No luck!
So one time I went online looking for it and I found Old Bob’s! I didn’t buy one at that time ‘cause I think
they were adding shipping, but I just put one in “my cart” and discovered they
have free shipping now! I’m gonna order
a couple for myself, and, IF YOU WANT ONE, MISTY, I’ll order one for you
too! You’d have to come pick it up at my
house—I don’t deliver!!! ;-) (Or you could order one yourself—I don’t see
any sort of a minimum order for free shipping!)

I like this one because it’s for “clingers,” or birds that
can hang on to the “little edge” long enough to grab a seed! Mostly I have house finches using it—and when
they get into my yard, chickadees—which are my favorites! Plucky little birds! BIG birds can’t hang onto it! But, again, if squirrels got onto it they
could eat the seed—if there was somewhere they could hang onto—or they could
knock it to the ground and “chew it open!”
It is just plastic! It’s very
easy to fill and has a clear “hopper” so you can see how full it is. I fill it with layers of sunflower and
safflower!

http://oldbobs.com/product/clingers-only-green/

[BARB, DO YOU WANT ONE???]

For seed I recommend WM for small quantities, or Murdoch’s
for large bags of sunflower. (I’ve found
a couple other inexpensive feeders at Murdoch’s too!) Safflower and thistle Barb has been getting
at a place in Brighton for the last year or two, and she’d need to tell you
where! It was a place called Agfinity,
but I think she might have found a different place in the last few months. Thistle we have gotten a big bag and split
it, but I think she said there’s a place now where she can get it “by the
pound” for about the same as a big bag price.

In the past I’ve used Willow Run Feed on 120th at
Chase (Sheridan), but their sunflower price is way higher than Murdoch’s. Most recently I found safflower (40 or 50 lb.
bag) for a pretty good price there.
(Willow Run is where I got my two EXPENSIVE feeder posts—but they’re
really good and were worth the price! I
don’t know what they might carry now!)

http://willowrunfeed.com/

If you want to start with a really, REALLY cheapie feeder,
Misty, WM has a 98¢ little plastic clear tube one with two ports and two little
plastic perches! I discovered it one
time when I was out trippin’ and was looking around WM for a couple other
things! (Have seen it in other WMs since
then!) I take seed and peanuts and other
Critter Food with me when I’m trippin’, and when I saw the 98¢ one I got it and put some of the seed in
it for the birds—rather than the Ground Critters! I take a long enough piece of heavy twine
with me to tie it over a porch beam, or in a tree—or somewhere! So now I feed the Ground Critters AND the Sky
Critters when I’m out trippin’! BUT, a
squirrel would destroy this thing in less than a minute if they got on it!

As long as I have enough time I check the “wild bird
section” in just about any store I’m in.
If you keep looking at different places you really can find some good
deals—and feeding the birds doesn’t need to be outrageously expensive! Considering the enjoyment I get out of
watching them—and knowing how much I’m helping them, especially in winter—I
think the money is well spent!

Skybird

Zach! I've missed your bird pics. I can't believe you had a Cedar Waxwing. I have never had one here at my house and I get a fair variety of birds.

I will most definitely go for a drive around the arsenal. I went in the Summer and really enjoyed it and didn't even think to go back now. But of course, it's so much easier to see raptors when there are no leaves on the big old trees! So yes, I'll be there soon.

This time of year, I find the birds really drawn to water as much as food. I put out shallow trays of water for them. Each morning, I refill them with warm water that breaks up some of the overnight ice. I have times where there are 6 or more robins trying to occupy one tray. I get tons of sparrows, chickadees, finches, and juncos.

The other day, a Cooper's hawk landed right above the water trays on my deck. I'm sure it was hunting all my little birds. Sometimes I feel bad about bringing them to my yard as hawk food, but I console myself by saying that the hawk has to live too and there are many little birds. He flew from my deck and landed on the fence near one of the feeders. I snapped a picture before my cat insisted upon going outside to chase him away. At first, the cat got pretty close and I thought maybe the hawk wasn't threatened by the cat, but as soon as the cat got just a bit closer, the hawk flew off.

So, Skybird

you wouldn't be the one to ask about Amazon Prime? How about this new convenience-sized store Amazon is opening in Seattle? They say ... no checkout! Just check in with your app, a sensor knows what you took off the shelf and carried out of the store. Amazon will bill your account ... Amazon has said that there are 2,000 other US locations they have planned for opening these new stores. No shipping!!

I'm still puzzled with identifying Cooper hawks and Sharp-shinned. Yeah. The most recent "help" I've found is that although there is a great range of individual sizes in each species --- if it is crow-size, it's a Cooper. If it's dove-size, it's a Sharp-shinned. BUT! The ones I see and try to ID have never been as small as a dove or as big as a crow! Shoot!

Steve

DEFINITELY not an Amazon Prime Person, Digit! I don’t believe in paying someone so they’ll
allow me to buy things from them! And,
even if I were to consider it in the light of free shipping (on eligible
items!), I don’t see how I’d EVER get up to $100 or $132 of shipping charges on
Amazon since I almost always find their prices to be higher than eBay or other
places, and buy from Amazon once—or possibly twice—a year!

Wasn’t sure what else was included, so I checked it out!

I’m 100% positive they don’t have any—ANY—music I’d be
interested in!

I don’t plan to ever—EVER—read a book on a DEVICE!

I already have free access to more movies and TV shows and
all other kinds of videos—including some very good documentaries—than I could
ever watch in 10 lifetimes, on Youtube!
(of course I could always “add video subscriptions to Showtime,
Starz, A&E, AMC and many other streaming entertainment channels”—more
money!—which I’m not even slightly interested in having!)

Let’s see! I can get
Prime Now which would get me “one hour delivery for tens of thousands of
products from local stores!” In my
opinion anybody who can’t plan more than ONE HOUR in advance needs a Life
Coach!!!

Prime Pantry! “…members
can purchase and ship to addresses in the contiguous U.S. low-priced grocery,
household and pet care items for a flat
delivery fee of $5.99 for each Prime Pantry box.” Uhhh!
But I thought the shipping was FREE!?!

Prime Photos! Well, I used to LOVE to fly THRU the clouds,
but not planning to store anything IN
them!

I did discover I could get a 20% discount on DIAPERS! Hey, maybe I could use that—some day! Oops, wait!
It’s talking about babies! Guess
not! In addition to which, I’m an
Eternal Cynic, so—20% off of WHAT! (Did
you hear the recent story about the “department stores” that were “discounting”
their merchandise, but the government has decided it’s all a scam—since they
NEVER sell the products for the price they’re “taking the discount off
of!” I had figured that out about
Penney’s more than 10 years ago!)

Nope, not gonna be paying for Amazon Prime!

Not interested in their “pay by smart phone” store
either! Just wait till the hackers
figure out how to hack into that system and the folks that are shopping
discover thousands of dollars added to their charges! (Did you hear the story a couple days ago
about the “device” that can copy car key fob codes? The guys doing it watch for people parking,
locking, and leaving cars “they want,” and as the owner is walking away from
the car a guy follows them long enough to “capture” their key code, and then as
soon as the “owner” is in the store, the guy unlocks the car, hops in, and
drives it away!!!)

If there’s an electronic device or system—there’s somebody
that can and will hack it! (I was
offered three years of personal identity protection—free—because the U. S.
government was hacked!)

And—none of this has anything to do with birds—but since it
seems there’s nobody around here anymore anyway I guess it doesn’t make much
difference!

I’m gonna do another post right after this one with some
actual bird info!

Skybird

I’m no good at identifying hawks either, Digit! Don’t have any idea what the one I saw last
week was! About the only one I’m ever
really certain of is a Red Tail—in flite, when I see the glint of red in the
sun! But here are a couple pages that
“might” help—some!

This is about the best “hawk ID” page I’ve found!

http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/hawks.html

And this is the “main page” with links to other birds of
prey too!

http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/Birds_of_Prey.html

I can’t use this on my Dumb Phone, but possibly it could
help you—and others! Just got it in an
email today!

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/merlinphotoid/?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=ac5ca3fdac-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-ac5ca3fdac-302450646

And this is another “bird email” I got today with three
“bird cam shorts!” I noticed it because
Zach brought up ravens above, and the first short video has a VERY “vocal” young
raven in it! Enjoy!

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b35ddb671faf4a16c0ce32406&id=de8a57e0bb&e=cb6f4a5944

My feeders—and birdbath—have been mobbed for the last couple
days! Wonder why!!! Just a little bit chilly out there! Haven’t seen a flicker back at the suet
again, but I do believe the house sparrows have decided to look for Friendlier
Yards, so I think I’m probably safe in putting the second suet cage back out
near the little branches—where the house finches and juncos can reach it! Looks like more “weather” coming in in the
next week—or two!

Feed the birds!

Skybird

It's fun that Cornell built that photo ID on the ebird link and called it "Merlin." Now, there is a hawk that is dove-size!

I'm really beginning to suspect that it's the Cooper I'm seeing just because of the descriptions for environment. It sounds like the Sharp-shinned is more of a forest bird and less likely to be seen in residential areas. Both species are here. Good for them! BTW, the Merlin must be feeling crowded by development. They used to be much more common.

It might be the Sharp-shinned that will come up behind me when I have been for walks in the woods, all but darting over my shoulder as it passes me on the trail before veering off into the trees!

Steve

Digit, last year there was a thread on here about the Cooper's versus Sharp-shinned. We had similar debates. Most of the features that distinguish one from the other are very difficult to see in an average sighting. The problem being they rarely sit long enough or close enough for you to examine their features. Even size isn't a deciding factor since there are variations in gender and maturity. If Zach took some pictures with his amazing photo skills, I bet we could tell. But you and I are probably sunk and we just have to guess. One thing you can do is look at population maps in your area and say "hey there seem to be way more Coopers, so it was probably that!" For now, I'm saying my hawk is a Cooper's. But I continue to examine him each time he comes.

I just scored an entire bird feeder pole system like this one, including the squirrel baffle part for only $7 at a yard sale today.

Good score, popmama! A similar set is on sale at Ace now for $25, so you did well! I'll link it below. It looks like yours may be more heavy duty. Also, Ace has suet cakes for 79 cents thru Xmas Eve.

Ace bird feeding station

I saw my first downy woodpecker here yesterday! It looked like it wanted suet, but couldn't/wouldn't go for it. It hung around the feeders for a bit, then flew over to an ash tree and climbed up the trunk. It was fascinating to watch! I figured it'd be gone by the time I got the camera out, so I didn't bother.

I have a citrus blend suet cake in the suet feeder now,. It's almost gone, so I'll put a peanut blend cake in today and see if it comes back. I've had northern flickers here occasionally, but this is the first downy I've seen.

We have Amazon Prime and love it! For $99 a year subscription fee we get all our Blue pet food for less than what I was paying at Petsmart. You also get Amazon videos with it, which has Downton Abbey and Bosch, 2 of my favorite shows. If our brand of pet food wasn't eligible, it might not make sense to subscribe. The better half does a lot of his shopping on Amazon now. My rationale is for $8.25 a month, instead of spending a lunch hour at Petsmart, I only have to carry the pet food from the gate to the house and I can watch Downton Abbey anytime I want. For now, I'm willing to pay for the convenience.

Barb

Wow, Barb, that pole looks like a stupendous deal. That would make a really nice gift for someone else I know. I contemplated giving the one I got to her, but didn't feel right about giving her a used one. I think I'll go get the one from Ace for her!

You can get Downton Abbey with a yearly subscription to your local PBS station.

I wish that the newspapers didn't seem to be all going to subscriptions. I'm still doing some work-arounds. I found the internet kind of wonderful when I got online because I was reading newspapers from all over the country! To continue that, I would have to pay subscriptions to multiple sites. Yes, I know. It's this kind of readership that is driving them to ruin but I never once subscribed to more than 2 newspapers plus 2 magazines back when they were delivered to my door! Ya know, it reminds me of the discounted electrical appliances the power companies had while rural electrification was going on. Get everybody "hooked up" ... okay, I don't remember that but I've read old newspapers!!!

Ebay. I'm really getting into holiday shopping --- NOT! I decided to use my PayPal account for recent shopping. The first store I go to - Target.

Still, I'm exploring, checking things out (in a manner of speaking ;o). I got PayPal several years ago because it had these built in safeguards. So, I should use it with these obscure stores, right? Is that how Ebay works, too?? Hate to be such a bumpkin but limited shopping experience has left me with comforts I might otherwise have not enjoyed. Now, I don't want to encourage DW too much this way! As it is, our email is jam packed with offers from the retailers!! This overload almost renders email as unusable for some, I guess.

Steve

good thing this thread was started by hijack-tolerant Zach.

Haha, I am especially hijack tolerant when I'm not around to say otherwise, Steve. (Not that I would anyways, of course.)

Speaking of not being around... due to weather and customer cancellations, work has been pretty scarce the past week and a half. Sucks for my bank account, but hey, birding is practically free.

These western bluebirds missed the migration train it seems, and earned me a place on EBird's "rare sightings" list. It's the little things.....

Here's a collection of "LBJ's" for you. Heres a little secret of mine... A not so insignificant portion of why I take pictures is simply so I have something to compare to the field guide for ID.

Either I run across a lot of song sparrows or I have an affinity for them because I'm almost certain that I have more pictures of them than any other bird.

White Crowned Sparrows are another I have lots of pictures of.

And a couple news additions to the collection of sparrows, a Harris sparrow that showed up at my mom's feeders and some American tree sparrows.