Like so many others, I've been noticing how the snow and cold weather
has concentrated the birds at my feeders. This morning I had 17 Varied
Thrushes eating the sunflower kernels, chopped peanuts and chopped suet
I scattered on the ground. They are the first birds to appear in the
morning, usually about 45 minutes before sunrise. Another visual treat
was the Merlin that hung around for a couple of days.

Also, for the first time I noticed that about 15 Winter Wrens congregate
at dusk and pile onto the Barn Swallow nest platform we put up in the
spring. Today I'll hang up a roosting box for them to provide a little
more shelter.

As for the starlings, they don't seem to be at all interested in peanuts
or sunflower kernels. They do like the suet if they can get to it.
You can get suet feeders that hang upsidedown and that thwarts them and
the crows.

Linda
Whidbey Island

Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:57:28 GMT
From: "craig_marie at netzero.net"
Subject: [Tweeters] beautiful birds
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <20070114.125748.15950.1310820 at webmail48.nyc.untd.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Good Morning Tweeters,
This is my first entry to Tweeters. I live in the Renton Highlands just
1.5 miles east of Lake Washington. I love sharing the world with birds!!
The snow is beautiful and bringing many birds to my garden and feeders.
Since 1/10 a beautiful yellow-rumped warbler has appeared everyday for
her share of the suet feeder. Along with a beautiful Townsend warbler, I
am seeing many Northern flickers, house finches, house sparrows, and
song sparrows. Bushtits come by the flock to collect on the suet feeders
like bees to a honeycomb. Black-capped chickadees, and chestnut-backed
chickadees enjoy the seed feeders. Thank goodness for all the juncos
that come to clean under the feeders. I was also surprised by a female
red-winged blackbird and a Bewick wren. And don't forget the beautiful,
but mischievous Stellar jay!! What I really want to know is how to get
rid of so many European starlings!! When they descend on the feeders,
there is much bickering among them and they can clean out a feeder in
just a few hours.
Marie
Highlands of Renton