[TN-Bird] Red-cockaded/goldfinch

At 11:00 AM today (Sunday), Public Television Channel 8 in Nashville had a 
program on "Snakes".  During the first quarter of the program, they had a 
short segment about the red-cockaded woodpecker's "trap" for keeping its nest 
protected for its worst enemies, snakes.  It told how the woodpecker nests in 
live pine trees, pecks holes just below the nest hole for protection.  The 
program then featured a corn snake crawling up the tree, showed the resin 
seeping under the scales thus irritating the snakes tender flesh and, then, 
the dramatic sudden fall of the snake from the tree when the irritation 
became more than the snake could stand.  The short segment ended with the 
victorious red-cockaded peering out of the nest hole and flying off to tend 
to business.  Since PBS reruns all its programs several times, you might wish 
to check your local listings for the program "Snakes" on NATURE.  It's worth 
a view.  It sure reminded me of my Florida home to see a nesting red-cockaded 
as I grew up watching one nest in a pine just off a state road right-of-way a 
couple of miles from home.  Of course, development came, the road and right 
of way were widened, the nest pine demolished, and my adorable red-cockadeds 
left!

My lone goldfinch that appeared during the seven inch snowfall was back this 
morning feeding away on sunflower seeds.  In just this week, he has begun 
"yellowing-up" real good as one of my old-timey ornithologist friends used to 
call it.

Yesterday afternoon, one of my "boss" mockingbirds came at my call to get its 
peanut butter.  The bird was so totally wringing wet through and through that 
it reminded me of a drenched anhinga just as it emerges from under the water. 
 I have seldom seen a wetter bird.  As soon as I had placed the peanut 
butter, this mocker got down there an ate greedily as if it had not eaten for 
hours.

By the way, even though my six mockers are bossy, I do not think they are 
quite as possessive as the one Ann Varney writes about.  Other birds can eat 
at my feeder..............after my first-in-command pair of mockingbirds have 
had their fill, then my second-in-command pair and the bottom-of-the-barrel 
pair have finished.  Even my sweet little Carolina wrens get into the peanut 
butter.  My mockers all fight the starlings which is fine with me.  In the 
past, even the young baby mocks fight adult starlings from the day one when 
their parents get them to the feeder.  Baby mocks learn to take care of 
themselves in a hurry!

Cardinals are aggressive too.  My white-crowned sparrow took a real "beaking" 
from a male cardinal a few days ago. The w-c was feeding among several 
cardinals on my deck, and, suddenly, one of the male cardinals dashed over to 
the white crown and just went "peck, peck, peck, peck, peck", full force and 
hard, right on the top of the sparrow's head.  The sparrow flew to the deck 
rail, acted a little stunned, stayed there, then came back and fed in peace 
when the cardinals got full and left.  The next day, I saw my white-crowned 
out there at times when the cardinals were not.  Lesson learned!

Go get a lifer today!

Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN
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