OH NO, please go over to the birdwatching forum and read my post about the flufed up birds. What you have there is salmenilla. I had two that I cought and brough in two days ago. They rooseted together through the night, then died the next day. You must take all your feeders down and wash them with a bleach solution. You know the drill I am sure. Clean under the feeders and any bird baths too.There has been a outbreak in our reigon. It is highly contageous and can be transmited to humans and domestic pets. There are several good links in the post over there. This is NOT one of those things that you want to let nature take it's course with. This affects birds in the finch family the most, including pine siskins. I know how badly you felt, I go through the same dilema myself and it was so sad to watch those little birdies die, I was going to take them to the rehabber to be put to sleep, there is nothing to cure it, I am glad they had each other in a warm place to die. So WARNING to anybody in this region, pleas please keep your feeders EXTRA CLEAN especially UNDER them , this is spread by fecies. I am so sorry dirtgirl. Lisa

I know exactly what you mean, Cathy. THis reminds me of a bittersweet moment I had several years ago. We had a redtailed hawk nesting across from the house. It was fascinating getting to watch the youngsters grow into young adults. Once I was poking around at the base of the tree and came across a freshly killed shorebird. It had puncture wounds but was not even partially eaten. I am assuming the adults brought it to the nest, but why it was never consumed will remain a mystery. I had absolutely no clue what it was, but after doing a bit of some reading I was guessing it to be a golden plover. I did the ziploc freezer bag thing and took it to a local Audubon member locally and he pretty well agreed on the id. These birds only come through on migration...you'd normally never see them. SO here was one lying dead under a hawk nest in a hickory tree in the middle of the woods. Maybe it was at the reclaimed mine lakes noth or west of us and got picked off by the redtail. Take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves I guess.

I'm getting ready to put up 2 more seed feeders, one hanging from the underside of the deck as the nyjer feeder does, and one window mounted. Its a walkout basement situation. I'll be using black oil sunflower seeds in the hanging feeder (its the Brome Squirrel Buster Standard) and I haven't decided, either sunflower chips/hearts or more black oil sunflower seeds in the window-mounted feeder. Will the Juncos be drawn more to those feeders than to the nyjer? I could mount the window feeder lower on the window to be nearer ground level if it might attract them away from the nyjer feeder. There are at least a couple of them that want to feed at the feeder now. I don't know if they are always the SAME couple but never more than 2 on the tube. I wouldn't mind except they insist on driving the goldfinches away. The VAST majority of them are happy on the ground. There does seem to be plenty of seed for them there, I can see it through the window even in the grass. The juncos like to fly up to my window and perch on the edge of it and peer in. I don't know why but they do. So flying INTO the window shouldn't be an issue. I've actually never seen a bird fly into a window, except once at someone else's house where they had a giant picture window that was in direct line with a patio door. I'm pretty sure the bird thought it was flying towards the trees it could see in the backyard through both windows. Otherwise I've never had a bird fly into a window. It kind of freaked me out the first time I heard one land - I thought one had flown into the window after all, but there was nothing there by the time I looked. When I heard the scritching sound the next time, I looked around and there was a junco just perched on the lip of the window looking at me out of the side of his head. Every now and then one will pop up and perch there for a few seconds before flying off. I have NO idea why. They're perched on the lip of the upper half of the window, not on the sill. It's kind of strange, LOL!

Thanks Rachel - I am looking forward to their return, the jelly and fruit feeder is out. Also, I really enjoyed and as always was amazed by your April birds photos. Seeing your water bird pictures always reminds me that I can photograph birds at the Cape the next time I am there. (I never have done that, but you have to start somewhere!) Thanks again - Donna