interesting sandy. i knew the vit k treatment but i didn't realize it was heparin! which leads me to my mystery, though i never would use poison bait. it is all this talk of rats and mice. someone is trying to move into my romeo's sleeping box in the shed. but my reason for posting is quite hilarious- he went to investigate why my 15 some pound bag of composted manure was moving. i am standing at the back door and hear "SQUEEK!" i wish i saw it, but alas i had only my tshirt and undies on and it was still daylight. hey, i work midnights, ok? :) i had a mental picture of it jumping in the air and squeaking at the same time. the big oaf ran out of the shed, belly to the ground, and wanted back in the house. that surprised me. my old man at romeo's age would have had his whiskers twitching in anticipation. so, my mystery continues....though maybe in the process we have discouraged our visitor. i also took the top off his sleeping box to make it less inviting. i have found no rear projectiles. i am also considering leaving the feeders empty for awhile. i would hate to do that. just sharing a story. i didn't want to start a thread just for it. it almost applies.

Yes, the mystery deepens! My neighbor has several bird feeders, and I have a large old concrete birdbath that I was cleaning out and refilling every couple of days during the record breaking hot summer. It was not uncommon to see 6+ different birds at the bath at one time. The area is sheltered with many mature trees and shrubs, especially spruce, hemlock, lilacs, viburnums breaking the winds that come in from the west. I live in an 1895 house in an old rural town (Big Rock, IL, Est 1834), with farm fields nearby as well as some prairie woodlands that have never been developed (aka ruined, LOL). I have seen other critters that I have not seen in decades when I lives 25 miles closer to Chicago. Preying Mantis, Luna and some Sphinx moths, even a Hellbender salamander digging into my burn pile (got relocated to the creek bank). And I'm still a novice. I'm wondering if these variables might have some species passing through at times that might otherwise not be considered "regular" In the Metro Chicago area? Just looked through a 1936 copy of Pearson's Birds of America and came away with few ideas. Purple Grackle seems similar, but what I saw was slimmer and not as iridescent. Similar thoughts about Blackbirds, Grackles and Purple Martins. The shape of the tail reminded me of male cardinals, but the birds were a bit smaller, about 3/4-7/8 the size. The white tail patch was only visible when the birds started to take off. I saw this more than once. It was kind of in the middle of the rump as opposed to the end of the tail. From what I saw of the birds, the underside was certainly a dark color as well. I looked through a few other birding books I have between the first and the last sightings, and nothing listed matched. I wondered if it/they might have been a lesser mentioned subspecies or a juvenile. Interesting....

Hi Konrad. Yep, you've got an immature Red-tailed Hawk there! Immature red-tails have heavy barring on the tail (which you can see in the top photo) and the eyes are a pale whitish-yellow instead of dark brown. Gorgeous hawk and nice pictures!

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