10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Over the pass, trees turn to pines – one very dark Eurasian Red Squirrel in them – and peaks around us become much higher. Like many others, this village was totally abandoned and only recently repopulated, with a current population of only 18 people. A Willow Tit feeds on thistle by the side of the road.

Bears 265

Bears Greece Europe Slovenia 265

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2011

The thought of an Oriole foraging in bare winter branches is as foreign as a Petrel on a pool and yet, there it was in my yard picking through an abandoned squirrel’s nest for what appeared to be spiders. They are, for many birders in the eastern part of the continent, one of a short list of quintessential spring birds.

North Carolina 140

North Carolina 2011 St. Louis Baltimore 140

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

If you have been feeding black-oil sunflower and suddenly switch to straight safflower, birds will abandon your feeders. Safflower is not the favorite food of house sparrows, red-winged blackbirds and squirrels. I also use the weight sensitive “squirrel proof&# feeders to keep them out of my sunflower seed.

2011 184

2011 Woodpeckers Blackbirds Deer 184