I live in (very) rural southern Iowa three miles from MO border and just saw this afternoon Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal (I think I saw two females, they're having a ménage à trois, I guess); two thug bluejays; several juncos; a house finch (those are the ones with vague red heads, I guess they can't commit); a yellow-bellied sapsucker; a downy woodpecker; several gold finches (males are not yellow right now); and at least one chickadee. There were a bunch of morning doves up at the local elevator, but they usually don't come down the road to my place. Too many cats, I suppose.
The local eats are sunflower seeds, a suet block, and some rough ground corn to which I chopped in some almonds and coriander seeds. Always impressed by the bluejays that grab a seed, fly up to the top of the metal rod that holds my feeders, fixes the seed between his two feet and pecks at it until he gets the seed out of the shell. Saw him fly away today with a piece of almond - he hid behind the lilac bush but another thug spotted him and went to mug the first one. Not sure what happened...no blood or feathers, anyway.
However, have not seen our eagle pal yet today. He's Eagley when I spot him flying somewhere other than over my farm and "Wyatt" when sitting in one of my trees. Took this pic of him (maybe her?) on Dec 8 from my kitchen window (about 300 feet from the house as the crow flies...ha).
P.S. Those owl and cardinal pics up above are all sensational.
