James Knapp wrote:

>We've had the honor of being visited by a dull yellowish
>female black headed grosbeak. She was rather timid but ate
>sunflower seeds comfortably with the regulars (finches galore,
>and the peppy chickedee gang).

You might have had an immature; I think most of the adults are gone, and we
regularly get immatures at this time of year.

>The suet feeder is now hanging on a single chain to keep
>the pesky starlings at bay. It worked but now the lazy
>flickers have given up trying to eat upside and have gone
>elsewhere. But in their place, we had our first visit
>to the suet from a little downy woodpecker! He's now a
>regular too.

The single chain doesn't discourage our starlings; you're lucky!
Sometimes the starlings literally swarm around it, and it makes me crazy to
see the suet disappearing so rapidly down gaping maws (and paws and
juveniles). At the same time, our flickers for the most part seem
comfortable with it, although they do look awkward swinging from a feeder
smaller than themselves.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416