Started putting a bit of seed out, and got a sizzlin hot suet cake hung, and the heater in the birdbath.

Trying to identify bird that flew overhead this morning at dawn....What do small owls look like from underneath and in silhouette? 12 inches head to tail, prominent wing shoulders as bird was gliding not flapping...reddish dark brown color, rounded head reminds me of a barn swallow but larger, a Nighthawk?

Ran across this 'art show' while looking around

https://www.facebook.com/Portl...

what a fabulous array of art in so many different styles!

Found a small hawk dead on the deck Saturday (about pigeon sized). Must have flown into the sliding door and broke it's neck.

Cute show Judy.
We had a hawk crash into one of our large windows while catching a dove, he sat on the patio for a few minutes shaking his head and appraising his wings before flying off, never releasing his prey.

Poor hawk... more of a wrench when that happens with one of our "special" avian visitors rather than, say, an English sparrow.

Rounded head does sound like an owl, MM... google overhead silhouettes to be more certain. I had trouble finding a page that showed both hawk and owl silhouettes, but here's one about 2/3 of the way down this page: http://westcountyhawkwatch.blo...

Jill, what an extensive collection of silhouettes! Thank you so very much. great reference,

I suppose the pre dawn time points to an owl, too, The 'flap, flap, flap, glide" flight is spot on along with low flight. altitude.

Cool pics.

That site is saved to my library. I'm not very good at bird ids, especially LBBs, at a certain size they all look the same to me. If I can get a clear pic and blow it up, I can do an after the fact id. My eye sight has never been the best and after the cataract surgery may be even worse in some ways. My old bad eye is now 20-25, but not exactly not clear and I never needed readers.

Check this out by Wilson Chen

Thanks for letting me know my "google fu" was in fine form that day. LOL

a one in a bilion shot, MMaid!

Always knew a perriguine falcon was fast and powerful...but wow!

Judy, what an amazing picture!

HaHa, I posted this video on another thread but perhaps it belongs here? What kinf of birds are these anyway?
https://www.facebook.com/danga...

Yes what an amazing pic.

Judy those birds in the video look like chickens to me. Cute video!

We haven't started feeding the birds yet, I need to build a better food storage area in the garage. Critters keep getting in and ravishing the totes we have been using for years. They finally figured out if they chew a hole in the right place dinner will run out in a pile. So I'm going to build plywood bins on legs so the damaged totes can store yard art under the bins. I may have to paint the bins with creosote or pepper sauce on the outside, but the result should be no squirrels in the sunflower seed. I was at Ace today and bought 3 cases of suet for $28.64, or $.79ea. I was thinking I need to make a tray to marinate my suet in hot sauce and see if that helps. The suet they sold with hot peppers was twice that price.

Not sure soaking it in hot sauce would do much (would it penetrate the fat?). You could dump them all in a pot, melt, add hot pepper flakes (more than you think), then pour into a baking pan... cut when firm. At that point you may as well make your own. Maybe you could just roll them in hot pepper flakes when you open them? Only the outer layer would be hot, but that might be enough to put the squirrels off.

Great debate- I feel like seedy cheap suet cakes just crumble and fall out and don't have that much fat in them. I buy pure suet if I find it, or sizzlin heat suet, they last longer. Squirrels showed no interest in the pure suet. Pricey but lasts so much longer, it may be a wash.

Bird Watchers General Store agrees with the "pure suet" as they find squirrels are attracted to the seeds, etc in the suet, not suet itself.

I like their blurb on hot pepper :
http://www.birdwatchersgeneral...

" An interesting aside in this Cornell study is that no amount of hot stuff affected chipmunks. They kept gathering seeds no matter what was put on them. Why are chipmunks immune to hot food, you ask? It seems that the chipmunk's signature cheek pouches are fur-lined. Its mouth comes equipped with a built-in potholder. Who knew?"