I teach school, and on these snowy days, I enjoy watching the feeders from my new kitchen window. Today, in the order of appearance: Dark-eyed juncos - many White throated sparrow - 3 Mourning dove - several - they've found the seed that I scatter under my camper! House finches - many American goldfinches - many American robin - mostly feeding off the crabapples, but one was scratching around under the feeders Common grackle - 3 - yesterday was the first I have had in my yard in 2007 Downy woodpecker - a male and a female Northern cardinals - hard to count, but probably 6 European starling - several Song sparrow - one of these guys has been singing since the middle of January! House sparrows - ugh! Tufted titmouse - these guys just showed up recently, and they do a lot of singing, too. Carolina chickadee - hard to count - could be the same ones over and over, but at least 2 Carolina wren - 2 - they definitely favor the "orange" suet cake over the other varieties Red-bellied woodpecker - only saw the male today Blue jays - three American crow - several Cooper's hawk - the female put in a late appearance as I was shoveling my driveway. I see the pair fairly often, but enough people feed birds in my neighborhood that the hawks don't hang out exclusively in my yard. (I call the female "Top Gun", after observing a wild chase through my neighbor's breezeway, the crabapple tree and into a different neighbor's 50-year old blue spruce. I didn't see either the poor little American goldfinch or the Cooper's hawk exit the blue spruce, but it sure was an exciting aerial display!) 2/14/07: Day's total: 19, which, for my bare little plot of earth (about 40 feet wide and 120 feet long), is pretty good. All of these birds were in or directly over my yard. I did not count the Canada geese, which I saw from my yard, or the northern mockingbird that I saw while walking my dogs in the neighborhood. I ground feed under the forsythia and under the carport where I keep my camper. I have five suet feeders, three near the kitchen window, and two in the back of the yard nearer the one and only tree (a large, old sugar maple). I have one feeder in which I put "mixed" seed, three dedicated to black oil sunflower, and one nyger (thistle) seed feeder. The song sparrow prefers to scratch around under the nyger feeder. The juncos and white-throated sparrows feed under the forsythia for the most part. I don't cut back the butterfly bushes until late spring, and the birds use them for perches and cover. The Carolina wrens love my camper. The other day, one of them took cover in the hitch receiver! I often see them hop up into the wheel wells. So, although the list is not particularly exciting, it is an opportunity to observe bird behavior. Margaret Bowman Licking Co. (Newark) ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]