Also, how do you the wren you saw was a female. I
> have never seen them differentiated in the field
> guides.

Les and all,

I am probably gifted in that regard. Ok, everybody stop laughing.

I am going on the noise it makes. If you pay attention whenever a male sings
the tea-kettle song. it is often answered by some chatter from a nearby
female. While both sexes may make this chattery racket, I think it is
usually the female doing it. The bird coming to my feeder is slightly dull
in color and only makes the chattery racket. So I figure it's likely a
female. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

Some folks have replied criticizing my reasons for not feeding birds. Yes, I
agree that we are responsible for loss of habitat that might normally feed
them in winter. However, even if you are prepared to continuously clean your
feeders and the ground where the seed falls below them, I still don't think
we ought to be doing it. I have always thought we should let nature be
nature and if we have bad winters, like last year, so be it. Population
fluctuations are normal. They recover. And they will happen whether we feed
or not. In essence the loss of habitat argument is more a guilty feeling
than a valid reason to feed birds. If we really feel guilty for stealing
their habitat, there are shrubs and bushes we can plant that will feed them
naturally without making them congregate the way that feeders do. If you
feel guilty about habitat loss, then restore some of it. I have several
areas on my hopeless acre that insist on growing wild (hillsides that I
can't mow with my silly little tractor), so up to a point I let them. Even
the stupid Eurasian Bittersweet I try endlessly to get rid of has berries
that probably feed birds nicely. Try putting up natural bird feeders, not
the artificial ones that spread the diseases. We have some Hollies in the
yard. I'm told the berries are best eating for birds in February.

And before we start another meaningless argument-thread on this list, direct
replies/concerns to me, not the list. If you don't know how to do that, then
don't. Opinions expressed here are those of the writer and are not shared by
the group as a whole, so let's just reply to me and not bore everybody with
it.

Jerry Tarbell
Opinionated in Carroll County