On the ground beneath our thistle seed feeder now are five MOURNING DOVES - the first we have seen this season. We are on a farm between Cannon Falls and Kenyon. We also have PILEATED, RED BELLIED, HAIRY, AND DOWNY WOODPECKERS, A NORTHERN FLICKER, WHITE BREASTED & RED BREASTED NUTHATCHES, FIVE PAIRS OF CARDINALS, HOUSE FINCHES, an occasional PURPLE FINCH and COMMON REDPOLL plus the usual but interesting CHICADEES, DARK EYED JUNCOS, AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, BLUE JAYS, AND HOUSE SPARROWS.
At Christmas we looked out at our flowering crabapple tree to see a male RING-NECKED PHEASANT awkwardly perched in the tree eating the tiny frozen apples - probably as close as we'll ever come to a partridge-in-a- pear tree! Alden & Margaret McCutchan