Willie wakes up earlier every day now it seems. This morning he zoomed into the heat lamp light at 6:16 a.m. even though it was still absolute darkness in the yard. He's returned four times in the five minutes since that initial visit and has been sitting and drinking on each visit, which is unusual for him this early in the morning. Maybe he didn't get enough sugar water yesterday as that immature Sharp-shinned Hawk gave all of us a scare. Virginia was out in the yard picking up road trash when the Sharp-shinned exploded into the feeders and tried to catch a Goldfinch, which went under the deck to try to escape. The hawk pursued it under there - which is right by the cedar bush where Willie sits - and came out with a bird in his claw. She was almost certain it was the Goldfinch but we didn't breathe easy until Willie appeared at the feeder a half-hour later and he seemed nervous all day. We plan to leave for Minnesota tomorrow morning before Willie's getting-up time, so there will be no reports until we return in a week or so. I have the heat/spot lights on a timer and our neighbor will be checking the feeder and changing the sugar water. We're still apprehensive about leaving him, but will trust him into the hands of the One who said He sees and cares for every bird. Tommy & Virginia Curtis Smithville, TN DeKalb County =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- 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 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================