A n. shrike perched in various treetops around our house today most of the 
morning until mid afternoon. It made a couple dives into our forsythia bushes 
for tree sparrows but came up empty. Pine grosbeaks have been very 
noticeable this week throughout Brattleboro and W. Brattleboro. I've seen 
several flocks of between 8- 26 birds. Today, in W. Bratt., there was a flock 
of 18 pine grosbeaks feeding in the same cluster of trees as a flock of 100+ 
cedar waxwings, 5 bluebirds, and 2 robins. We also had a lone evening 
grosbeak vocalizing at the top of a larch pine on 1/1. As of 1/1, we've had 
daily visits from c. redpolls. Earlier in the week the flocks were in the 40-60 
range; the last three days the flock size increased to ~ 100 around our house. 
A male red-bellied woodpecker continues to visit our trees and suet.
Dave Johnston, W. Brattleboro