[ForestGiant]

Oh, man, not a woodpecker. I love ours. We have at least three species, including a pair of HUGE red heads. One of them tore great big chunks of bark off of a tree in the front yard. The tree was dying, but the bark was still well attached. I was impressed.

Yes I too love the woodpeckers and why I mourned. We are overwhelmed by sparrows, jeepers of course we are with many large barns around us and I could mostly care less about them. Sometimes I will see a hawk hanging around to take the sparrows, the feeding is good. I do enjoy the Cardinals, occasional Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, and of course Robins that come to the feeder. And their are 2 squirrels that come around and feed and chase each other around up and down trees. When I say squirrel my golden lab Finn runs to the door and fusses to go chase them. However over the course of this year these sparrows have pretty much driven all these other great birds away. This Downey Woodpecker was an exception and we both enjoyed it. Yesterday however I did notice a couple of female Cardinals come up close to our house and hope they stick around.

 

[MagVic CCT]

We've had several pairs of cardinals for many years now. We are very fond of the cardinals and even though it is somewhat of an encroachment on my fence, I let the vines and other things grow as it seems to be some of their favorite nesting area. Good choice, really because it's very tangled and tall, but won't support the weight of a cat trying to climb up in there.
We have the blue jays (big ones), wrens and chicadees. A Hawk that hangs out for the squirrels occasionally. And several humming birds and once in a while a pair of very pretty blue birds. Not sure what they are, but sort of like an undersized robin but blue all over. We feed them of course and keep a bird bath. They drain that thing daily . My cats go crazy with all the birds, but they only go out in the late afternoon and couldn't catch one if their life depended on it. I've seen a pair of Mexican eagles in the area, but never on our street. At least, that's what the picture said they were. What is curious is that we don't seem to have that many sparrows. Ok by me, they can get to be too many. The thing that fascinates my wife are the Huge crows that walk around in the yard like they own the place. Even the cats won't mess with them.

 

[IM12STPN]

At least you were 20 degrees warmer than we were yesterday. I had to go looking for my 30 lb wheeled trash bin Best Way picks up around 6 am every Friday. We were 11 below and continuous 40 to 50 mph winds and gobs of snow, which was probably the single coldest wind chill day I have ever experienced, even growing up in Michigan and skiing a lot of Rocky and Sierra Mountain peakes. I currently live in SW OH, since 1996. I walk 2 houses down, and trash receptical is nowhere to be found, and froze my face walking back against the wind, something I have never experienced in my life. A couple hours later I drive and find it 3/8 of a mile away and another 60 yards out in a farm field. And then I had to pull it to the car against the wind of course which took over 5 minutes in a rutted farm field and froze my face again. The weather folks call this one a Bomb Cyclone and safe to say, I am not a fan. My wife has a bird feeder in our back yard and I will watch them from my semi sunroom office. I could not believe these mostly sparrows were out feeding and was amazed of their endurance against the wind and extreme cold temperatures. However I saw one of them fall over on its back and the wind slide it across my yard on top of the snow. It struggled to right itself, however withen a couple of minutes it froze and died. A couple of hours later when my wife gets up I tell her. She looks with my binoculars and stated this was not a barn sparrow, instead it was our Downey Woodpecker ( their has been a single one feeding for weeks ) and I mourned the loss. I could send it to you Dean, and you could mount it next to the Moose.

@ForestGiant ...got up this morning, can;t get out with drift in front of door, and Tahoe/Pickup. BUT, staying warm

 

[ForestGiant]

We've had several pairs of cardinals for many years now. We are very fond of the cardinals and even though it is somewhat of an encroachment on my fence, I let the vines and other things grow as it seems to be some of their favorite nesting area. Good choice, really because it's very tangled and tall, but won't support the weight of a cat trying to climb up in there.
We have the blue jays (big ones), wrens and chicadees. A Hawk that hangs out for the squirrels occasionally. And several humming birds and once in a while a pair of very pretty blue birds. Not sure what they are, but sort of like an undersized robin but blue all over. We feed them of course and keep a bird bath. They drain that thing daily . My cats go crazy with all the birds, but they only go out in the late afternoon and couldn't catch one if their life depended on it. I've seen a pair of Mexican eagles in the area, but never on our street. At least, that's what the picture said they were. What is curious is that we don't seem to have that many sparrows. Ok by me, they can get to be too many. The thing that fascinates my wife are the Huge crows that walk around in the yard like they own the place. Even the cats won't mess with them.

Wow MagVic - you have quite the santuary going on there in East Texas, my wife would be jealous. I understand Texas has a good number of birds that are blue or bluish. Yesterday our population of Cardinals went up to 4 or 2 pairs, so this was a pleasant surprise and another male Downey Woodpecker showed up. My wife also maintains a heated water source for them.

 

[ForestGiant]

@ForestGiant ...got up this morning, can;t get out with drift in front of door, and Tahoe/Pickup. BUT, staying warm
View attachment 638698
View attachment 638699

MY sister down at Secord Lake also sent us a video of the big snow storm. It does make for a great Christmas setting though.

 

[IM12STPN]

MY sister down at Secord Lake also sent us a video of the big snow storm. It does make for a great Christmas setting though.

@ForestGiant ...just took these, still can't get out. Plow company coming tomorrow

 

[IM12STPN]

We're out

 

[crosscountryla]

If you like the MMA fights on the UFC this video is really watching the end. Two thumbs up in my opinion.

 

[crosscountryla]

 

[arkvic]

We've had several pairs of cardinals for many years now. We are very fond of the cardinals and even though it is somewhat of an encroachment on my fence, I let the vines and other things grow as it seems to be some of their favorite nesting area. Good choice, really because it's very tangled and tall, but won't support the weight of a cat trying to climb up in there.
We have the blue jays (big ones), wrens and chicadees. A Hawk that hangs out for the squirrels occasionally. And several humming birds and once in a while a pair of very pretty blue birds. Not sure what they are, but sort of like an undersized robin but blue all over. We feed them of course and keep a bird bath. They drain that thing daily . My cats go crazy with all the birds, but they only go out in the late afternoon and couldn't catch one if their life depended on it. I've seen a pair of Mexican eagles in the area, but never on our street. At least, that's what the picture said they were. What is curious is that we don't seem to have that many sparrows. Ok by me, they can get to be too many. The thing that fascinates my wife are the Huge crows that walk around in the yard like they own the place. Even the cats won't mess with them.

how ya know they're mekskin eagles?? they wearin sombreros???

 

[arkvic]

@ForestGiant ...got up this morning, can;t get out with drift in front of door, and Tahoe/Pickup. BUT, staying warm
View attachment 638698
View attachment 638699

so,... do much huntin'??

 

[crosscountryla]

 

[wvrider1]

 

[crosscountryla]

 

[crosscountryla]

Electric stones of the Congo.

 

[ForestGiant]

There are theories about the pyramids of Giza were built as power producing structures and using a source underneath them. They certainly were not built for Pharoh tombs.

 

[crosscountryla]

 

[crosscountryla]

No amount of money would get me to do a job like this.

 

[MagVic CCT]

Nope.

 

[crosscountryla]

Deleted double post