First, thank you to everyone who takes the time to write. Very enjoyable. Second, a query. Via ebird, we have been noticing a local who does a lot of birding. We would love to make a connection with her. Is there any way to contact people you find in your county. We live in Franklin County, NY--very rural (not a lot of birding organizations) in the Adirondacks. This person also seems more experienced but is walking in the same remote areas we walk. Any ideas? We wrote Cornell lab but heard nothing..Yet!
Activity 1 We have feeders all over the place. We notice the chickadees who are there all winter, are gone. Lots of mourning doves, red winged blackbirds, robins, and a dark blue headed blackbird--name? etc.. Interestingly, and this happens every year, we generally only get 1 hummingbird (at a time) at the feeders. Activity 2-We have suet in the backyard; we changed because something (raccoon) carried the whole thing away in the front yard (at least we cannot find the container). For us, it is interesting to see how the birds eat that suet--knocking a bit to the ground and then eating. Also, in the past, the black-capped chickadee is so interesting how they take the seed in their feet and then turn around to eat on the feeder. Chickadees also seem fearless! Activity 3-We used Merlin in the woods behind out house (live on 20 acres). Merlin identified Red-eyed vireo and eastern wood-peewee two birds of which we were unaware. Finally, and sorry so long, here is a pic of the first loons we have seen of the season. Kayak trip on Mountain Pond in the Adirondacks near out house.