I just snapped my head to the right as I caught the movement of two Annas at
the hummer feeder and they are backed by the most beautiful bright rainbow,
what a sight! The snowy cold weather seemed to bring in more birds than
usual this morning. The hanging suet feeder has all but disappeared under a
swarm of pine siskin. All the feeders were crowded and more birds waiting
their turn. No bathers though, apparently even the Polar Avian Club
cancelled their dip today. I have a large trellis that I put the little
lights on as I did my apple tree branch. After two years the honeysuckle
vine has covered this nicely and I've started leaving the lights on during
the day here, too. This morning it was loaded with birds (2 dozen or more)
all perched and fluffed in the foliage. They seemed to head there for a rest
after getting their fill at the feeders. I really think they are enjoying
the few degrees of warmth those lights provide. The honeysuckle wasn't as
popular before I turned the lights on.

There were ten Juncos schmoozing through my plant containers and also taking
up seed from the floor of the balcony. These are relative newcomers up here.
The first one just arrived a few weeks ago so word must be spreading fast.
My cat, Oliver, sits on the rug right by the sliding door, watching, tail
twitching, nosed against the glass. The birds are just inches away and seem
to pay NO attention at all. It's nice that we can share the joys of bird
watching, even if not for the same reasons. ;-)

The flicker has already made two trips to the feeder for sunflower chips. It
doesn't seem interested in the suet. It looks so difficult for it to get the
seed, hanging on; the tail tucked all the way under, touching the underside
of the feeder, wings flapping. Seems like a lot of hard work. I've put seed
down on the railings to make it easier but both the flicker and pigeon seem
to prefer the challenge of the bird feeder for some reason.

I was given a poster put out by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, COMMON FEEDER
BIRDS, and I think I've identified "the little brown birds" as Song Sparrow
and Golden Crown Sparrow. Both of which, along with some house finches and
pine siskin are now on the apple branch, about 20 birds in all. One of the
Annas has taken to resting in my fuchsia bush after feeding and it's there
right now. I've only seen two hummers today that I can tell.

A question I have is about one legged birds. I've told you about Hop-a-Long
my friendly one legged chickadee but haven't mentioned that I've also
noticed several pine siskin missing a leg. There is just a tiny, short
thread left hanging where their leg should be. This morning I counted three
of these birds. Is this a common occurrence or the work of an inexperienced
person trying to band birds? I'd be most interested in any answers.

Patricia Hansen
2 Balconies,3rd Floor
Tacoma, Wa. USA
pmhansen at drizzle.com


"Use what talent you possess:
the woods would be
very silent if no birds sang
except those that sang best."
- Henry Van Dyke