I teach school, and on these snowy days, I enjoy watching the feeders from
my new kitchen window.  Today, in the order of appearance:



Dark-eyed juncos - many

White throated sparrow - 3

Mourning dove - several - they've found the seed that I scatter under my
camper!

House finches - many

American goldfinches - many

American robin - mostly feeding off the crabapples, but one was scratching
around under the feeders

Common grackle - 3 - yesterday was the first I have had in my yard in 2007

Downy woodpecker - a male and a female

Northern cardinals - hard to count, but probably 6

European starling - several

Song sparrow - one of these guys has been singing since the middle of
January!

House sparrows - ugh!

Tufted titmouse - these guys just showed up recently, and they do a lot of
singing, too.

Carolina chickadee - hard to count - could be the same ones over and over,
but at least 2

Carolina wren - 2 - they definitely favor the "orange" suet cake over the
other varieties

Red-bellied woodpecker - only saw the male today

Blue jays - three

American crow - several

Cooper's hawk - the female put in a late appearance as I was shoveling my
driveway.  I see the pair fairly often, but enough people feed birds in my
neighborhood that the hawks don't hang out exclusively in my yard.  (I call
the female "Top Gun", after observing a wild chase through my neighbor's
breezeway, the crabapple tree and into a different neighbor's 50-year old
blue spruce.  I didn't see either the poor little American goldfinch or the
Cooper's hawk exit the blue spruce, but it sure was an exciting aerial
display!)



2/14/07:  Day's total:  19, which, for my bare little plot of earth (about
40 feet wide and 120 feet long), is pretty good.



All of these birds were in or directly over my yard.  I did not count the
Canada geese, which I saw from my yard, or the northern mockingbird that I
saw while walking my dogs in the neighborhood.



I ground feed under the forsythia and under the carport where I keep my
camper.  I have five suet feeders, three near the kitchen window, and two in
the back of the yard nearer the one and only tree (a large, old sugar
maple).  I have one feeder in which I put "mixed" seed, three dedicated to
black oil sunflower, and one nyger (thistle) seed feeder.  The song sparrow
prefers to scratch around under the nyger feeder.  The juncos and
white-throated sparrows feed under the forsythia for the most part.  I don't
cut back the butterfly bushes until late spring, and the birds use them for
perches and cover.  The Carolina wrens love my camper.  The other day, one
of them took cover in the hitch receiver!  I often see them hop up into the
wheel wells.  So, although the list is not particularly exciting, it is an
opportunity to observe bird behavior.



Margaret Bowman

Licking Co. (Newark)


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