Thanks SO much, ladies! I've narrowed it down to a house wren or a winter wren, since those are the only 2 which would likely be in this area. There's been a LOT of squawking from the jays lately, and it just feels tense, like a soap opera out there. LOL The chunkmeister starlings were perched on a big ol' dead cottonwood tree limb up there while the wren was chattering, like they were making him nervous. The starlings remind me of plump ripened fruit, ready for harvest. LOL The wren seemed to be feeding...not sure what makes me think that, other than he was chattering while moving away from the starlings, then he would stop, turn, tail flip, turn, tail flip, off again at the speed of light. I'm just rambling nonsense now, but I REALLY hope I get to see this thing up close!!! Oh, and he was backlit, so color was really impossible to see, but the winter and the house wrens have very similar coloring, it appears. *sigh* Brenda

We have tons of Mourning Doves around us, and find them to be quite tame and tolerant. They tend to build nests about anywhere, in fact I have a large, flat terra cotta planter that is mounted on the brick right outside the back door. Every year we have Mourning Doves nesting there which amazes me since that door gets a lot of activity and the planter is only about 2 feet from the door itself, and it's at eye level! We all glance over at the mother and babies but never approach or feed them. Mom and babies seem perfectly calm around us. Enjoy your beautiful doves! Marilyn

Big bird on top looks like Greater Yellowlegs. Smaller one in same pic could be a Sanderling. Reddish birds are Ruddy Turnstones.

Thanks a lot, Esther and gyr_falcon! I found a couple of better pics of the smaller bird but seems I can't post it on this thread (it refuses to attach the pic). I will post them in a new thread.