Lin, I get the Chipping sparrow here and I love them, they are so cute and chippy....

Deb, the Juncos are one of my favorites and the other one looks like a juvenile White-crowned sparrow.

Deb, great shots ... love that Junco!

Now that the hummers are gone it is time to start watching for the first juncos here. I have already seen a white-throated sparrow one morning on our walk.

Still have hummers here, in fact 2 were fighting this morning.

Lucky you, Ann!

Thank you Margaret. I know my days are numbered though.
We're starting to get the winter birds now.

The Hummers have been gone for a few days now. Not much going on here. Was able to get a couple of pics today of a Blue Jay and some Sparrows.

I still haven't seen the hummingbirds around my yard lately but I really need to get the feeders re-filled and hung!

Love the Jay photo's and those cute little Sparrows! Blue Jays are one of my favorite birds; I've heard many folks call them bully birds but I've never seen them bullying other birds. I sometimes have Jays, Doves, Cardinals and others all feeding at the same time with no problems.

Lin,
I love the Jay's also! They are so pretty! They don't stay long, just swoop down grab a peanut and then fly away to eat it. They do sometimes give the loud call and scare all the other birds away from the feeders. Sometimes I think they do that on purpose.

Cat, the Blue Jays have an imitation call that sounds like the hawk ... they do it to see if hawks are in the area (to see if hawks respond) as well as to frighten other birds into hiding so they can have the pick of seed at the feeders. Smart birds! We've begun to see a few hawks around again lately and the jays really raise a ruckus when hawks are in the area.

Yes, I was able to get some pics a few weeks ago of a hawk that was here. The Jays did warn all the birds in time so the hawk just sat in a tree a bit and preened then took off hungry. I am always torn on that. I hate for them to get any birds but at the same time they need to eat also. Nature can be Rough!

Yes, nature can be rough that's for sure. I've seen hawks take birds before ... never a pretty sight but nature at work.

All the "bullies" seem to be my favorite birds. I love crow & jays. I used to put out a special dish just for the crows. Birds of Prey are my favorite group of birds. Hawks, owls, osprey and Eagles are like my shiny objects!!

I did spot a chickadee and a titmouse on the suet so they are stating to find it finally But it is not busy yet. SO I settled to watch these Goldfinch on the Echinacea yesterday. They spent a good deal of the day eating out there.

Those Goldfinches just make me smile ... great shots Claudia!

Great photos everyone!

I am like Claudia in that the birds of prey are my favorites if I *had* to pick favorites. I love the blue jays too & don't think they are bullies either. I'm not crazy about the crows though. Maybe in smaller numbers but we have quite a flock of them here & they ARE thugs. They get so loud too ~~~ sometimes when they land in a tree close to the house & start up with all their jabber you can't even hear yourself think! They harass the Red Shouldered hawks to death too. Ha, ha, ha, ha, the other day we were sitting on the back porch & you know how paybacks are hell? We got to see payback in action.
All of a sudden we see these 2 large birds swooping down in front of our eyes. It's a crow with a red shouldered hawk behind. Man, that hawk was tailing the crow like nobody's business! Hawk had crow flying at full speed & hawk was so close on crow's tail I'm sure hawk could smell crow butt. Crow was attempting to dodge for all he was worth but there was no losing hawk. They swooped a couple feet from the ground *really* close to the screen & had to climb out of the dive FAST. Up & over the roof they went with hawk almost about to taste crow feathers. Did our hearts good to see crow eating crow.

Great pictures Claudia!

The crows are Smart Birds but I know they do reek some havoc! Back earlier this summer they must have been at the Blue Jays nest. Those Blue Jays were sure beating the heck out of the couple of crows and it was a crazy fight.

Ann, that must have been a sight to see! I wonder if the hawk ever got the crow? We get crows here at certain times of the year but I've never seen large flocks, only two or three. They always seem to go after the Mockingbird babies in the spring and the mockers spend a lot of time chasing the crows. I really like to hear the crow caws ... for some reason it always reminds me of fall up north.

I don't know if the hawk got the crow but as they were careening steeply upward to the roofline, we heard a sound from the crow that was clearly saying, "Oh s&*%!".

Yes, Cat, The crows do love to go after Blue Jay nests & Mockingbird nests.

We just always seem to have 2 or 3 crows come to the yard. We have many around us but never a large number at our house. We do see large groups fly over during fall migration time. We often see the crows and hawks casing one another. The crows also will often harass the owls. That is how I was able to pin point where a Barred Owl was and get some photos of it one day.