The sudden drop in temperatures over the past two days combined with the
three inches of blowing snow has had the expected result, but sometimes
it's nice to see that expected result.

Ground feeding sparrows (junco, tree, white-throated) have joined the
crowds around our feeders in impressive numbers. We see a few even during
warmer winter temperatures, but they arrived in numbers with the re-arrival
of winter.

Jane and I added a pair of feeders seen through our north-facing picture
window of the kitchen, and so now we have birds on three sides during
breakfast. This makes it difficult to come up with real numbers, but what
the heck...

For reference, we feed black oil sunflower, nyger thistle, and suet.

I would say around fifty juncos are frequenting the area now, with 15 tree
sparrows and half a dozen white-throated sparrows. These join our usual mix
of dozens of goldfinches and house finches, quite a few house sparrows
(although fewer than the finches,) a few song sparrows, a dozen or more
cardinals, along with common appearances by the expected chickadees
(Carolina at this latitude), titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, downy,
hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers. During January we were getting visits
from a flicker or two, but I haven't seen them the past couple days. An few
blue jays swoop in to stir things up now and then.

A Cooper's hawk cruised through the area yesterday afternoon. I didn't see
it take anything although I have in the past.

The one real difference is that a flock of cowbirds arrived yesterday
morning, joining the always-present starlings or at least sharing the
space. These are the first cowbirds I have seen here in 2016. My high
count, between feeders and the nearby maple tree, was 23.

Waiting and watching for others...

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County

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