Two emails of interest have been sent to me recently:
 
ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD CHIRPS WITH ITS TAIL Male Anna's hummingbirds can now be seen in many West Coast backyards and fields executing theirdisplay dives to seduce females and drive away intruders. UC Berkeley students have now shown that the characteristic chirp at the bottom of the male's dive, thought by many to be vocal, is produced by a split-second flaring of the tail feathers. The full story is online at http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/01/30_hummingbird.shtml 
 
 
AND from Al Merritt's weekly newsletter...
A Long Way from Home
On January 3, 2008 a duck hunter in Mississippi shot a Northern Pintail that was wearing a bird band.  Hunters shooting banded waterfowl is certainly not unusual, except that in this case the hunter was startled to see the name JAPAN engraved on the band.  The bird was banded nearly eight years ago in February 2000 in Japan!
 
 
Bird numbers at my feeders for the entire month of January have been very low.  I have 5-8 House Finches, same with Chickadees, couple Juncos......  
 
Ruth STewart
E. Dorset
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