My Back Yard: the Killing Ground

Today, I stayed home sick.  I wasn't feeling well, and fortunately I'm able to accomplish a fair amount of work by remote connection.  Even though I felt less than wonderful, I enjoyed being able to watch my feeders throughout the day - I was hoping for a visit from one of my local hawks, but I was disappointed in that regard.  So far this year, I've seen two adult Cooper's Hawks, one juvenile Coopie, one adult Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a Red-Tailed Hawk of unknown age.I took the attached photo last year and have posted it elsewhere in response to a listserv thread about why some hawks were seen with ice on their tailfeathers:  I think my photo explains the phenomenon quite well!

The hawks have made a few hits this season, all House Sparrows.  My feeders are like a House Sparrow buffet, and I don't mind decreasing the flock every now and then!  The Cooper's Hawks have, in the past, snacked on Starling (yay!) and Cardinal (boo!) and I'm always relieved to see my "cuter" birds come back to the feeder after the threat has passed.  I know that might not be the most PC thing to say, but I'm never going to be one of those clinical, science-above-all birders:  I like some birds better than others, and I dislike House Sparrows because they're mean, not because they're invasive.  I'm happy to say that they really, really dislike my new suet feeder:  the Woodpeckers, Chickadees, and Nuthatches seem to like the beef kidney suet just fine.   That means the House Sparrows stay in their little flock, picking the squirrel-spilled seed off the ground, making easy targets for my Hawkie friends.  And so it goes.

I'm going to Peru!

It looks like I'm going to Peru this year! I'm one of a few winners of a trip to one of two locations being developed, if that's the right word, for birding tours within Peru. The birds look amazing, and most of the things we could possibly see will be lifers for me. Now, part of my responsibility is to try, gently, to get a few paid people to sign up for my trip. The more that sign up, the less expensive it gets (up until 7 people, that is). I'm hoping to go on the Satipo Road trip but Manu is also a possibility. This will make a total of only four countries I've visited, and one of those is Canada which really shouldn't count as foreign since it's just too close to home. With the Space Coast Birding festival coming up, my trip to Japan in summer, a pair of Red Sox tickets for April, and now this Peru trip, it looks like 2010 is shaping up quite nicely!
I should have details on the Peru trip shortly. I hope others will sign up for my trip!

My other visitors

Squirrels, everywhere! The picture at left shows that not even the window feeders are safe. My dark-faced, raggedy-eared friend had to climb up the telephone wires, run along the flagpole, jump onto the feeder and wedge himself inside to get at the peanut stash. From the dining room window we can get a nice glimpse at squirrel butt.

The cats like squirrel butt. It's like television for them.

So I'll start right in.

I may not be the best birder in the world, but I'm certainly enthusiastic about the things I do manage to see. So why not start a blog? Even my boring backyard birds might be exotic to someone in another country, so I owe it to the world to write about what I see! Today, I saw a pair of Northern Cardinals, a male Downy Woodpecker, several Blue Jays, a Black-Capped Chickadee, and the usual Borg-like Flock of House Sparrows at my feeders. I've been working hard getting ready for holidays so the back yard must suffice till the weekend.....

An introduction to me: I've been birding for about five years now. I'm not all that great and my vision is lousy. I've traveled to three, yes, THREE foreign countries in my life (and that includes Canada, which is almost cheating) so I'm way behind the likes of the usual globetrotting birder. I have an addiction to gadgets and sometimes I think birding is just a cover for my gizmo-acquisition obsession. I hope to write about some of the appliances I use to help me hone my rather meager skills, as well as highlighting birds in teh Rochester, NY area and wherever I happen to travel. Maybe someone'll even read what I write. That would be nice, too. :)