Birding Update

I am coming down the home stretch on "Silly as a Goose" by Birds of a Feather.  I'll have an interesting story to share when I post the finish - stay tuned!  

Speaking of birds, Tom-Cat helps me most days as I count the number of birds at the feeders.

I bought this 'cage in a cage' suet feeder in hopes of deterring the voracious Starlings.  I was pleased to see the the Flickers were able to access the feeder without issues.   

Look at the lovely wing feathers on this male. I was watching the Swallows nest-building and I think they used a Flicker wing feather as nesting material.

Here's a female Flicker at the same feeder.  

The down-side is that the darned Starlings also are able to eat the suet in this feeder, so it is not slowing them down one bit.  

Fortunately the Flickers and the Acorn Woodpeckers are aggressive and will puff up and hiss at the Starlings and do what they need to to make room at the peanut and suet feeders.

But I expect the Starlings are one of the reasons I never see the small Downy Woodpeckers at the feeders.  They are too little to take on the Starlings.

I am seeing the Acorn Woodpeckers a bit more frequently.  Here a female and male showed up at the same time, and I've had two males at the same time.  Looking at this photo I can see that I need to clean the dining room window.  The Band-tailed Pigeons continually bump into the window and have left marks everywhere. I'm off to get a step ladder and take care of that!