I THINK MY GUESS WAS RIGHT

I think the hawk I've been seeing is in fact a Cooper's Hawk. He was back in the near maple tree again today and I got a pic of him. If I'm reading the bird book properly, the band of white at the bottom of the tail is diagnostic.

THIS WEATHER IS FOR THE BIRDS

The variety of birds at the feeders has been very interesting so far this winter. I put out three large thistle feeders for the Goldfinches and for a time I could hardly keep them filled. One day there must have been 40 Goldfinches hanging all over the feeders at the same time.

But they must have been just passing through or else they found greener pastures, because for the last 2-3 weeks there have been hardly any Goldfinches around and the feeders have remained largely full.

One of the more interesting additions this year has been a group of Red-breasted Nuthatches. Last winter we had a few White-breasted Nuthatches, but this is the first time I've seen their red cousins. The red-breasted variety is much smaller and livelier and they hang around much longer. The white-breasted species usually comes in and grabs a sunflower seed and immediately flies back into the neighbor's pine trees to eat it. The red-breasted birds stay for extended periods of time, climbing all over the suet feeders as well as the seed feeders. They're very active and are often seen upside down much like Brown Creepers. Their behavior is very much like a combination of the Chickadee and the Brown Creeper. They're almost tame and will stay in the tree when you're filling feeders. I've been within 3 feet of them and they showed no fear.

There's a medium-sized hawk that has been making himself at home here, hanging out in the trees with feeders on them. All the songbirds make themselves scarce when he's around, of course. I think it's a Cooper's Hawk, but I'm not entirely certain. I don't mind him being around--everybody's gotta make a living--but I don't like him scaring away the other birds for long periods of time.

Here's a list of what I've seen so far this winter:

- Cardinal
- Chickadee
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Cooper's Hawk
- Bluejay
- House Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- Tree Sparrow
- House Finch
- Common Redpoll
- American Goldfinch
- Downy Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Slate-colored Junco
- Mourning Dove
- Starling

Gotta make sure all the feeders are full because there's a big storm coming, maybe as much as 6-12" of snow. Tough on the birds when it gets that deep.