Don't laugh, but I get to add a brand new species to my bird list.

Ready?

Rock Pigeon.

Have never seen one from my yard before as they all tend to hang out 3/4 mile away in the business district. (Not a whole lot of them there, either - I live in a wee little town.) Come to think of it, I never saw them from my yard in Hillsborough either.

Still have not seen a pine siskin this year, from my yard or anywhere else, but other birders in the area have seen plenty of them.

Added another squirrel resistant bird feeder a couple of weeks ago, hoping to not have to fill the feeders every day, but the sunflower feeders are still empty or nearly so when I get home from work. I'm guessing this late in winter the wild seed sources are pretty much depleted and they are stoking up to court.

haven't seen my bluebirds since I cut back on suet due to the starlings. The guy at the local birding store is suggesting I get a suet feeder from which the nuthatches, woodpeckers, chicadees, etc. can hand on upside down, since the starlings can't cling. I don't think the bluebirds would go for that, however, and they also rarely frequent the peanut/nugget feeder tube. He's suggesting a bluebird feeder (enclosed cedar and plexiglass with 1 1/2 inch holes on either side bluebirds and other small birds can get into to get at either nuggets or mealworms.

Do squirrels go after mealworms? If I fed nuggets in it I'm sure the squirrels would chew thru the wood or plexigass before too long.