Other visitors to your Bird Feeder

One night last week I looked out in the spot light a saw a Barred Owl looking for a snack under the feeder. It let me take a couple of pictures before it caught something on the ground a flew away.

Friday 1/29/10 about noon I was catching Goldfinch to band in a Potter Trap when i looked out and a Northern Shrike had caught one of my Goldfinch throught the cage. I went out and retrieved two others that were in the trap and left the dead one. I opened the cage door and came back inside. The Shrike came right back looking for his meal. I got a few good pictures of him before he went into the trap. I retrieved him from the trap with a gloved hand and he is now wearing a band on his leg.

The 13^th Great Backyard Bird Count takes place Friday February 12 through Monday February 15, 2010. The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are calling on everyone to “Count for Fun, Count for the Future!” During last year’s count , participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continents largest instantaneous snapshots of bird populations ever recorded. This year maybe this record can be broken. You can submit your bird list from your backyard or on a hike you take in the woods to www.birdcount.org. If you don’t have a computer, I would be glad to send in your list so give me a call at 357-5150 to get your birds counted and join in the fun.

Northern Shrike

Barred Owl

Keep those feeders full as you never know what may come for a treat. Gary Lee 2/3/10