hae O06 ON 8 ULE TEN 53 
Kird Notes from Jo Daviess County 
Misses Blanche and Bertha Cramer report for the Mt. Carrol area. 
Birds did not seem to be very much in evidence during the holiday 
season this year. “he ones that feed regularly at our feeding shelf were 
present in about the usual numbers, but we either missed the field birds 
or they were not there. 
At our shelf there were several pairs of Chickadees (one with a 
crooked tail having returned for a third season), two or more White- 
breasted Nuthatches and a pair of Downy Woodpeckers. One or two 
Hairy Woodpeckers, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a few Juncos and a 
Cardinal feed on the ground or in the trees near by but do not come to 
the shelf. . 
About the barn there are the usual House Sparrows, clouds of them, 
and two Starlings hide in the hay barn during the night but disappear 
during the day. “Iwo pairs nested in old Woodpecker holes last Summer. 
We shot one pair and one from the other pair. “The widow returned with 
another mate and we shot both of those. Both broods of nestlings died, 
so these two must be new arrivals. Less than a mile south of us, at the 
Croften farm, they have been nesting for several years, but none have been 
seen this Winter. Blue Jays are both seen and heard frequently. ‘This is 
the third year that we have seen the Red-bellied Woodpecker on our farm. 
They nested twice in hollow trees near the building. 
A flock of ten Canada Geese were feeding in a grain field early last 
Fall. ‘They sometimes fly over but are not often seen on the ground, as 
most of our waterways are small creeks. Quails are quite plentiful but 
do not come in to feed, as they do when there is much snow. A pair of 
Red-tailed Hawks which build year after year in our timber can be seen 
almost any day sailing about over the fields and woods screaming as they 
go. One afternoon we heard some Blue Jays doing a very good imitation 
of the Red-tail’s scream but not nearly so loud. Nearly every farm in our 
neighborhood has its wood lot and in nearly every one Great Horned Owls 
can be heard calling to and answering each other at nightfall with their 
deep-voiced “Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!” Crows were very numerous, great 
flocks congregating noisily in the woods or on the fields. We have never 
seen them do anything but appear to be in conference. Once in a while 
a few Goldfinches carried on a musical conversation over our heads in the 
tree tops. Our biggest find was a flock of about fifty Tree Sparrows 
which fed day after day over a broad, grassy field where there were plenty 
of weed seeds. “They are lovely to watch and their soft musical choruses 
heard as they move leisurely along give one the feeling that an old-fash- 
ioned Christmas card has come to life. 
