Fellow birders, Last weekend did not jump on the snow report bird watching bandwagon. Today, I suppose I am in the mood, or got in the mood after entering date in the Great Backyard Bird Count and looking at stats.. My feeders have become so active it is hard to not be excited. Have the most activity and largest numbers I have had in over a year. Location-(Jacksboro, TN - N. of Knoxville, TN Campbell County- elevation 1600 ft. Snowing with 2+ inch accumulations and busy hanging feeders as well as ground seed supplied. I have 6, plus ground feeders/ thistle bags suet etc. Habitat on my acre and a half ranges from thickets of briars/ underbrush to grassy area, deciduous and evergreens- fruit and nut trees. Water is available a running pond and regular birdbath with feeders in different areas of the yard. I have Zero House Finches, but 39 Purple Finch this morning. -Saw my first WOODPECKER species at feeders and on property/ vicinity in the past SIX months this morning. - A Red- Bellied, followed by a Downy. (This is despite feeding year round, suet etc. and having 1 -3 of each of these species the last 4 years here at this location.) This has seemed very strange to me. Plenty of hardwood trees/ adjacent woods as well as dead trees/ snags.. Cardinals only number 4 at high count- Including males and females. In past years winter counts have exceeded 15 at the time in snowy, icy conditions. I have MORE CHIPPING SPARROWS today than White Throated Sparrows, a grand count of 37 a few minutes ago. Will make additional comments on Chippies in another post. Goldfinch are numbering 55-70 Juncos 24+ as well as the usual residents joining in.. Song Sparrows 9 Field Sparrows 6 A lone Pine Warbler has shown up for a nice splash of bright yellow on a dreary day. On that note, I have not seen a Pine Warbler in 3 yrs here on the property. Anyone wondering about the populations since all the Pine Beetle damage in NE TN? They have either greatly declined, or moved elsewhere due to habitat loss. Ahh, the little common birds we take for granted, until they become scarce. Sure there are pockets wherever they find Pines. Nell Moore in Icy, cold and snowy Jacksboro =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count in which the birds you report were seen. The actual date of observation should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp _____________________________________________________________