We had a bad problem downtown, but the city did something about it. Before that, I had 3 hanging around, always kind of spooked me out, but I wanted to get along with them, started feeding them along with the carnivore woodpeckers, dry cat food and meat scraps cut up and no bones to drop on a roof. That went on awhile, watched one eat a piece of apple one day, interesting birds. But then a sick one showed up on my front porch at the water dish I set out, and I found 2 dead in the gutter a half block down, laid there for 2 or more weeks weeks, ick. We have a problem with West Nile, they had already done their sampling, confirmed its presence in the area, so wouldn't come pick them up. I thought they were a health hazard and if it had been in front of my house, would have disposed of them. So West Nile took its toll on them, now we have a fair amount of owls, that may help keep them away. Haven't been bothered by them for a couple years now, same with the larger brown woodpeckers, large flock of them. So nature has its ways, but you don't want West Nile in your area if you don't have it already. People in the two-state area have died from it (mosquitoes the carrier), usually elderly or with compromised immune systems.

I love the photos of the foxes and the coyote. The photos of the otters are positively magical, Pixie! What a wildlife treasure to have in your back yard! The hermit thrush is our state bird, but I don't believe I've ever actually seen one. That's a great picture, Claire. As to wildlife around my house, all I've seen lately are the neighbors' two yellow cats that patrol my brushy areas in search of rodents collecting food stores for winter. One cat has a tail and the other doesn't, and they belong to two different families. My old cat seldom ventures out in this weather, and then only for a few minutes, and she never leaves the porch. These two relative newcomers have inherited her hunting grounds.

Claire, It was lovely here today as well, up into the mid-50's. I went for a walk near one of the oxbow ponds and although the water still had ice on about half of the surface, the birds were enjoying the entire area. Ravens and gulls walking on the ice, geese, ducks, and 2 kinds of mergansers in the water, and chickadees and a mockingbird in the shrubs on the margins. There was also an eagle overhead, but I didn't have a camera with me. Do you put the lawn dragon in the same spot each season or does he migrate around a bit? Jane, your chipmunk looks about set to pop with all that seed in his cheeks. I love the kestrel photos. Kestrels are another favorite bird of mine; they are quite common in Ohio, and their rarity here was one disappointment when I moved to New England. I love the feather patterns for both sexes, and also like watching them fly - they can hover to look for potential prey.

softpunk that's for you to decide..the size seems right the style seems right and it will work with the sconces..but my opinion is not to buy if you feel you settle..and yes to buy if it touches you in a special way as for the money..changing three countries, with some back and forth in the middle, taught me to try not to convert the currency..as absurd as it sounds)) like, convert it of course, and it does come automatically in the beginning, but then you plainly stop doing that. it's rarely a pleasant surprise..unless you go to Nicaragua..))