In a message dated 02/10/2000 11:14:51 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< My biggest problem is that my house is in a new (<10 years) neighborhood
and
 we don't have large stands of trees nearby.  There are farm fields close,
 but the farmers ripped out most of the fencerows.  This translates into few
 reasons why songbirds would want to come around.  I keep some gourds hanging
 around for the purple martins and barn swallows (great for keeping mosquitos
 at bay), suet feeders and a bath by the kitchen window.  I can get
 hummingbirds because we have a lot of flowers around and it's pretty easy to
 make "nectar".

I love swallows -- I've been saying for a couple of years that I'm going to
decorate my next living room in "barn swallow" -- I mean their colors.  They
have a lot of those at Huntley Meadows too -- that's the park I keep talking
about.  In fact, I've seen tree and rough winged swallows there too.  I'm
sure a couple of others that I misidentified.  You're sure right about purple
martins, too.  I just don't live where I could have a purple martin house.

 Cats are a big problem too.  We don't have an animal shelter in our county,
 and a lot of city folks bring their unwanted kittens out to the country and
 "dump" them.  They've really gotten out of hand--killing the birds, baby
 rabbits in the woodpiles, etc.  The Toms are a particular problem with their
 spraying.  That smell lasts forever!  I have an old truck that I bang around
 in in the wintertime and the cats love to get under the hood on the warm
 engine.  It's not a problem with the front-wheel drive cars in the hood
 because the fan is temperature actuated, but I've fur-lined the hood of that
 truck a couple times, if you know what I mean.  It just makes me
 sick-hearted if one gets caught up in there and then runs away before I can
 put it out of its pain.  I've learned to whack on the hood if I go somewhere
 in the truck and it's already warmed up.  I did that one time and seven cats
 ran out!  Scary.

I certainly do know what you're talking about and what can you do?  It
happens.
I've heard that before -- hitting the top of your hood to alert the cats
before you start the engine.

 Because I'm a hunter, and kind of have a stomach for such things, the
 township has sort-of deemed me in charge of taking care of the problem in
 our group of houses (about 60).  I live-trap the ferals (I know all the
 neighborhood kitties, so there's never been a problem) and take them to a
 woodlot I own a few miles away, dispatch and bury them there.
 Heartbreaking, really.  If people would only spay and neuter their darn cats
 we wouldn't have the problem.

Sorry you have to pull that duty man.  I agree with you.  If people would
just spay and neuter their animals!!!  It's the responsible thing to do, but
a lot of people still don't do it.  At the Washington Navy Yard we had a
terrible problem with feral cats and old ladies who worked there would always
put food out for them.  They just don't understand that these are not like
housecats and there is a rabies problem with them too.

 Sounds like you have a great set of optics, Betty.  I have a bracket that
 clamps to my car window and I can mount a scope/camera on that.  Have you
 thought of something like that for your chair?  I can send you details, if
 you want.  As far as the photography is concerned, I would think about
 investing in a good, used, manual 35mm SLR (e.g. Nikon F series, Canon AE-1
 or AE-1P, etc.) and get an adapter for the Leica instead of investing in a
 telephoto lens.  You just can't beat German optics, IMO.  The Leica might be
 "slow", light-wise, but the new film technology has developed (no pun
 intended) to the point that you can get very fast 35mm film with almost no
 grain.  Fuji makes outstanding film for just this purpose.

 So, how many entries in your logbook?  Do you do sketches/watercolors?

To tell you the truth, I don't keep a list.  I did for a while, but I got too
serious about it and birding started to lose it's flavor.  I guess I've seen
about 400 or so birds, but maybe more now -- I'm really not sure.  I've
played around with sketching too, but that's another thing that isn't really
serious.  It's more of a stress reliever, I suppose.

Actually, I did keep a journal for about two years about birding. I'd list
who I went with and interesting things that we said and did on our birdwalks
-- I'd keep a list of the birds we saw too.  It's not taxonomically correct
or anything -- just a list of the birds we'd see on each occasion.  That was
interesting because it was a reminder of each birdwalk -- maybe I should do
that again.

I'll remember what you said about cameras and the Leica.  I haven't thought
about this for a while but I know I'm going to do it eventually.