Other birds from the last couple of days include American robin, starlings, dark-eyed juncos, cardinals (singing away), mourning doves, house finches (already pairing up), pine siskins giving their wheezy calls from various places around the garden, a pair of mallards in the pond, several American goldfinches, a couple of white-breasted nuthatches, a downy woodpecker, house sparrows, crows, a cooper's hawk calling as it circled above the pond chased by one crow giving its creaky door cry, and a red-tailed hawk being mobbed by crows over in the Arboretum.

The feeders are less busy these days for a variety of reasons, but make no mistake, they are still an important source of food for those birds who have come to rely on them. And when the weather gets colder again, they will be doubly important. Meantime, birds like chickadees and nuthatches are gleaning insects, mostly larvae, from leaves, twigs and the bark of trees. They are remarkably efficient at finding these often minute insects.