Carla

Activity 3: I observed a crow, a woodpecker, and a smaller bird, a dark-eyed junco. We have a compost area in our backyard that's just out in the open (the bear kept knocking down our black bin!), and that's the crows favorite hunting ground. They will hop and bob along, and seemingly finickily choose what they'd like. I noticed that they either eat something on site, or will stuff as much as they could in their beak and fly off. I believe the one I was watching was a male, and was retrieving food for his young, which may have been in a nest down the hill and across the street. They also love peanuts! They will hold the peanut with their feet, and feverishly peck it open to get the prize. One after another, they go through peanuts rapidly! We have a suet feeder across our driveway, and the woodpecker (maybe a downy?) loves that! I will see them mainly on the suet, hanging out for longer stretches of time, happily munching away. The dark-eyed juncos seem to like the seeds dropped from the feeder, more than eating on the feeder itself. I'll often see them, maybe 3 or 4 gathered right below the feeder, eating. I have seen them on the feeder, too, just not as frequently as chickadees, sparrows, and cardinals. They also seem to hang out a little longer on the ground while they eat.

Hi, we have whippoorwills at our house in the mountains of Northeast Pennsylvania. (I'm listening to one right now as I type!) I had never seen or heard them before moving here about 7 years ago. I moved from near a lake in a valley about 30 miles away, but despite being relatively close, I still never heard one. They instantly became my new favorite bird, and still are due to their unique call, their litheness, and their cuteness! Amazing how such a little bird can create such a big sound! They're tough to get a picture of since they only come out at dusk and dawn. But, a couple times, when standing in our front yard in the evening, I've spotted one, and have had one or two swoop past me, around me, and do what appeared to be mid-air somersaults! I'm looking forward to learning more about them. I'm guessing they're in the songbird group? I look forward to hearing them late springtime every year!