Slowly, all the other birds are returning. Now that there isn't all that much to be found in nature, I guess my bird food will do, even though it's not the brand they prefer. The cardinals are coming, the Blue Jays never left, tufted timouse, and the nuthatch that runs upside down on the wall - it's great fun to watch them. A Ridgefielder called last week that a Hairy Woodpecker had whacked a hole so deep, it had reached the insulation. Techniques that have been used for keeping woodpeckers off houses include hanging foil on a string or wire near where the birds peck - the reflections of the moving foil are supposed to scare the birds away.
Some people mount plastic owls or hawks nearby - the woodpeckers think they are predators.
Kennedy put up helium-filled balloons with faces on them. Eagle eyes Mike Vincelli of Weston sent us an electronic picture of an immature Bald Eagle spotted at his home, not far from the Saugatuck Reservoir. I was alerted to the eagle's presence by the crows crying out and a couple were keeping an eye out on the eagle. If you look to the right of the eagle that is a crow on the branch close to the tree trunk. At the fall, when the goldfinches are more apt to feast in the wild instead of at feeders, we may be tempted to leave thistle or black niger seed in the feeder for weeks at a time, waiting for their return.