Hubby and I love to watch the wild birds and have about 10 feeders placed in the yard where we can see them from our windows. You can see some of the male cardinals in a tree waiting to eat in this photo taken Friday. We only put out suet from the locker and sunflower seeds with some occasional peanut butter mixed with seeds but we are amazed at the variety of birds that come. In the winter we get cardinals, blue jays, juncoes, goldfinches, purple finches, titmice, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and several types of sparrows. We also get starlings at the heated water bowl and occasionally at the feeders. They come in groups and sit around the bowl together like they're having a party. In the summer we also get rose-breasted grosbeaks and Baltimore orioles. Believe it or not, the orioles eat at the suet feeders.
A surprise this winter was seeing robins at the water. It used to be that seeing a robin was a first sign of spring's arrival. Now they, like the Canadian geese, are spending winters in Iowa. Our local paper even had a story about it and said we would have to watch for the return of turkey vultures instead! I doubt many people in town will be calling each other to report seeing the first vulture of the year in their yard!
.jpg)
