Hello Gordon and all;
Just thought you might enjoy my birding journal entry for today:
January 10, 2004

Today is my Project Feeder Watch count day and a strange but fascinating one it has turned out to be. Every morning at first light, this past week of the big snowstorm, there have been thirty-eight to forty Stellar's jays feeding at the suet pudding balls. At least fifty Juncos have been picking up the bits dropped to the ground or hovering at the balls for a quick bite. But this morning it is strangely quiet and only a few birds are to be seen except a few ground feeding sparrows. Perhaps because of the warmer weather the birds are not in such a feeding frenzy.

Another explanation may be that numerous jays are mobbing something in the large fir trees on the hillside not far to the west. Is it a hawk or owl? With the snow more than two feet deep I cannot get closer to look. (Last time I checked at a mobbing scene they were harassing a Western screech owl just trying to get some sleep.) Several hours later I noticed blood stained snow beneath the rose bush. This may also be a clue to the disappearance of the birds. I don't know if there is a connection but just after noon I looked out my window and noticed a Stellar's Jay dragging a Flicker through the branches of the cherry tree. He was pulling on the Flicker's outstretched orange, wing. I hurried to get a closer look but as soon as I opened the door the jay flew away with the Flicker or part of one but I will never know for sure. One thing I do know for sure is I watched a Stellar's jay kill a Pine siskin near the ground feeder on December 29.

Just one comment for those who are not in favor of feeding birds: I have learned more about bird behavior in the last three months than I have in the previous twenty-five years of observing birds in the wild. I do understand the problem of feeding the enemies of native species. Fortunately the isolated area where I live has not yet attracted them unless you include Stellar's jays.

Joy Stickney-Markgraf

White Salmon, WA