One of the COMMON GRACKLES that have been frequenting my feeders all winter,
seems to have survived this last grim blast of below zero weather that we've
been experiencing.  It was busily stuffing away the seed this morning.  Other
very hungry residents have included chickadees, many gold, house and purple
finches, several titmice (I love their top knot :) downy woodpeckers and a
pileated that I heard while walking the puppy this noon.  Also, dark-eyed
juncos, several tree sparrows, house sparrows, we're still hanging onto a pair
of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, blue jays, our usual pair of cardinals and many,
many mourning doves.  My daughter spied one of our resident Redtail hawks in
our dead elm tree at the back of the property this morning, staking out the
place.  It appears to be the same group of winged residents that we had last
year at this time.

Jan Tebo
Monkton, Vt.