I was living in town when Mr. Walski was giving talks about the wild turkey project. Although the article describes the CT River valley, I think there were other release sites that weren't mentioned. I thought our town was one of them because of the corn, apples and water. We don't have apple orchards any more but although we are down to one dairy farm, a neighbor has quite a few beef cows (and lots of manure). We used to enjoy seeing the turkeys roost in pines along a corn field. As day was ending, they would gather and one by one fly up into the trees. The cattle farmer made improvements to the field since years of not keeping up with things let trees encroach on the field. About 100 feet of pines were cut back. There are plenty more pines but too much heavy equipment activity. The heavy equipment is now parked a distance away and finally we saw three male turkeys in our yard and then exploring the corn field. Last winter we counted as many as 60 coming down from the pines to see what they could get in our yard before making the tour to other places. I don't recalled seeing blue birds in winter before but this year we probably have 8. I counted 4 females and one male picking up suet scraps and thistle seed. We do not have nesting boxes up so I have no idea where they nest but it is probably somewhere behind our house. Thanks for posting the wonderful pictures. A friend has been getting some good shots at the Nashua airport and posting them on facebook.

I second all Jane's thoughts. If you can be prepared, bluebirding is an extremely rewarding experience. Many of us(correction: MOST of us) have had to deal with house sparrows. I can't tell you how many people I've known who, in the first year hosting bluebirds they have success, and for some reason, the house sparrows become a bigger problem in the second year, and people are taken by surprise (or shock) when the house sparrows kill the male in the box, or the female as she incubates eggs, or they smash unattended eggs, or toss the eggs out. In my first experience, a male house sparrow killed 6 newborn hatchlings by pecking them on the head. So if you decide to proceed, just be prepared. Bet's web site, www.sialis.org is a wonderful resource, and we will be here if you need us. Another option is to add hole reducers and host chickadees, if they are in your area. The proper hole reducer will prevent house sparrows from entering. You might want to read up on that at the website linked below. P.S. The little round wooden thing that many bluebird nestboxes come with (some people call them "predator guards") which extends the entrance does not protect anything from predators. BlueBars Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.sialis.org/

Like Alisande, I only see one about once a year...just passing through. I put out a lot of bird seed. I put black oil sunflower seeds in the feeders in the yard and I get a free mix that is a lot of milo and some sunflower seeds donated to me by Walmart, and I put it out along the driveway for the doves. It is so dry here. Right now I have 5 bird baths in the lower part of my yard, which is only about 1/2 acre big, but ran the horse water troughs over yesterday, and couldn't believe all the doves down there bathing. I guess I'm fortunate. I see sparrows in town, but out here in the country, we don't have them. Bluebirds can be seen in this area...supposedly, but the only time I ever saw them, was a pair in the yard of the old man that I look after a couple of towns over, and he couldn't have cared less. That was a few years ago. Now he has a pair of hawks nesting in a tree right out his door, and I can't even get him to walk to the door to look out at them.

Early one morning last week, DSIL had to chase a bear out of the garage. The garage door was closed, but he came in through the man door that is almost always closed, it may have been left ajar that night. The bear got the dog food and had opened the refrigerator and pulled out a few bud lights (probably trying to get to more dog food on top of the fridge. DSIL chased him out with a broom and then managed to lock himself out of the house. Fortunately, the bear had run off by then. The dog, who had just walked past the door to the garage didn't bark or do anything to alert. Not a good guard dog to say the least. It is not unusual to have to chase a bear off -- usually yelling is all that is needed. Bear are frequent this time of year around town, but are frightened by humans and property damage is really the only problem. Garbage cannot be left outside, by city ordinance, unless in an approved bear proof containers. Making it easier for Bear to forage in town is dangerous for the bears, not so much humans. Humans tend to contribute to the problem by leaving food out -- even hummingbird feeders are a problem. Moose and mountain lions are much more worrisome -- those are much more of a threat to humans and dogs. Luckily, mountain lions are relatively scarce, but there seems to be a moose injury to a human in the area every year or so. Usually cows protecting their young and they will charge a dog, who they view as a wolf, one of their primary predators.