>From Bob and Iris Jurmain Hi All, I thought that since you have all seen our little visitor that I would keep you updated. We've received about 70 birders so far, most from southern Ontario. I'm continually canvasing for ideas as to what we can do to help him survive and many good suggestions have been made. We have a heat lamp on the seeds, SM insulation under the feeder and tomorrow I will put felt on the perch and a heating pad between the SM and the boards. The main concern at this time is his feet which Mike Runtz told me was not adapted to this kind of cold. He is continually standing on one or another of his feet while feeding. While perched we can see he crouches down and covers his feet with feathers so it may not be a problem when he is away from the feeder. We also discovered an Indian Meal Worm (moth) in our sunflower seeds after being warned to freeze our seeds before bringing them inside. This is a very invasive critter that we didn't know about before. We are experiencing a steep learning curve with all these visitor-experts. We had a little excitement today with a visiting Sharp-shinned Hawk (juvenile). With the extra feeding and goodies, we have had a slight increase of bird activity and hence someone else looking for a meal of another sort. I didn't think bringing my .22 rifle out would go over too well with 10 birders watching and photographing but that's what I felt like doing. Our grosbeak did not come to the feeder until later than usual and did not stay as long each time. Perhaps the hawk had been around all day and he was being a little cautious. The extra seeds are also been enjoyed by at least one deer at night. So far, everyone has seen the bird save one who came on the one day he didn't show up. You may post these reports on whatever website or mailing list you want. Let me know if you want to be off this e-mail group. Bob and Iris
"Bob and Iris Jurmain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --- Mark Cranford ONTBIRDS Coordinator Mississauga, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] 905 279 9576 Mark Cranford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
