Had an interesting bird encounter Saturday at The Big House with a strange Mourning Dove that landed in the end zone and tried to hide in the blue paint for some reason I’ll never know!

Another Cooper’s Hawk attack witnessed on November 22 out our back window. The young, but good-sized Cooper’s Hawk swooped in missing in the initial attack and then landed on the nearby brush

Another first at our backyard feeders, this big male Red-bellied Woodpecker bypassed the peanuts and suet to eat whole sunflower seeds on our feeder!

Camera guy Mark Gomez sent in this picture of a juvenile Pied-billed Grebe from Stony Creek Metropark.

They were females but that’s okay. We can be absolutely sure they were Purple Finches that way instead of more of our very numerous and common House Finches!!

There are official signs of fall and one of them is the arrival of the first Dark-eyed Junco! I thought I saw one a couple evenings ago but wasn’t sure.

With the fall coming, I’ve been tossing corn kernels on the back deck and the Blue Jays and Red-bellied Woodpeckers are taking full advantage!

A new observation at our backyard feeders. Red-bellied Woodpeckers had been gone from our backyard for a few months but one male recently returned to our feeders and is doing something unseen before – eating whole corn kernels off the deck!