Early Christmas gifts

I received 2 early Christmas gifts today. The first came as I was exiting the lane to go to the PO. A beautiful Bald Eagle was soaring not too high over the woods in back of our neighbors' houses.

The second I owe to my young neighbor, Tim, who appeared at my door to tell of an owl that he had just seen. I zipped down the lane and ran across the field with him and, after a minute of scanning the tree line, spotted a Great Horned just as it flew down from its roost across the hedge row. Unfortunately I lost it due to the almost dark conditions.

However, a short time later, I spotted the same (or another) Great Horned Owl overlooking Ted and Tim's goose blind. Quite a sight, as the full moon was rising.

It's been many years since I saw a Bald Eagle and a Great Horned Owl the same day. (That would have been a World Series of Birding day). In addition, one black vulture sailed over the house and I spotted two more as I was driving today.

Psyched for a New Year's Day count in the not so distant future.

Backyard tidbits

Since I returned from an international trip (perhaps a post about the birds seen on that soon), I haven't done much birding. However, it was nice to see a Red-Breasted Nuthatch yesterday in a pine by my work place (the Wild Bird Center).

My wife and I live in an apartment complex, where we're not supposed to put up bird feeders. After talking with the landlord, they seemed ok with us putting out a little seed, so long as it wasn't drawing squirrels. Well, last year the squirrels eventually did arrive, and over the summer we stopped our feeding. However, this fall I am armed with the latest seed option: spicy salsa chips. They are sunflower chips coated in hot pepper.

I put some on the balcony a few days ago, and today the birds rediscovered it. I was really happy to have chickadees, titmice, House Sparrows, juncos, and a Carolina Wren all present today. I do hope that I'm around the first time the squirrel returns. I want to see if he is repelled or not.