Another fun link is about a satellite transmitter on a whimbrel and another is a person’s photos of a great horned owl rescue.  The owl is apparently doing fine, but the photos are awesome, especially just the one eye staring at the photographer from the box.  Sinister box indeed.

Bill and I also completed another video for OpenSky about one of the mesh feeders I really like.  You may recognize it from some of the photos in the blog over the years.  Why even Mr. Neil has taken photos of birds on it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you like the feeder, you can get it here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Non Birding Bill and I are knee deep in sorting through the oodles of blog entries that came in. I got a much bigger response to the contest than expected and it’s going to be tough to narrow down to the top ten. These will start showing up once a day on February 18 and then post once a day.

I have no idea what my internet situation will be while I’m in Guatemala. If I find a chance to upload a photo or video, I will. However, I have a feeling that my chance to blog while there will be narrow. Watch for updates on Twitter.

I’m watching all the winter finch activity and wondering if they will still be around when I return at the end of the month. When we were at Mr. Neil’s last week, there were so many finches descending on his feeding station that when the flock suddenly took off in fear of a predator, the culmination of wings made a jarring “woosh” sound. So many tiny birds makings such a mighty sound just with feathers.  Even the 36″ long finch feeder isn’t enough perches for them!

The pine siskins went after all sorts of food, from finch mixes to this woopecker mix in the wire mesh feeder above. This mix has sunflower seeds in and out of the shell, nuts, and dried fruit. Many of the pine siskins at the feeder have a hint of yellow, but some really stood out.

Check out the yellow on this male! Oh he’s splash of bright during the winter.

Okay, I seriously need to pack for Guatemala. I’ll be posting a few more thing before I go, but NBB is telling me to get my pack on.

And there was a long pause.

I’m not sure if the joke wasn’t all that funny or if people aren’t used to me making bird jokes. I told him to email me some photos and the sapsucker, the sapsucker who looked so fine in April and even rather dapper in May, looks downright ratty in June.

Check out the horns! So, I’m not sure what’s going on here. Did he arrive fresh from a neighboring birdbath? Did he not pay attention to his drilling and slip into some sap? Did he sleep in a tree cavity with a hole over the top and get rained on? Is he doing the flight of shame?

We shall just have to keep our eyes open for him and see what happens, he’s still coming in for nuts and sunflower hearts on the copper feeder, that’s a good sign.