A Question and What's For the Birds

I've been asked if I know of a carpenter by the name of Preston who worked in the Danville/West Danville area in the early 1900s. I have not come across that name in any of the research we did for the West Danville history, although it is thought he built some cottages at the pond. His wife was organist at the Danville Congregational Church in 1910. I do not know who might have church records from back then, but perhaps someone reading this will know and contact me - janebrowncabot@gmail.com. We would like to know his name and anything about either Mr. or Mrs. Preston you may know.

Our weather has modified and is probably a little above normal temperature tonight at 31.7F. I think the warming trend is going to continue for a day or so, then this weekend we are in for another bout of mixed precipitation that will make traveling difficult. I guess there won't be much going on for New Year's parties, so probably most folks will be celebrating at home, and that is probably a good thing from the standpoint of driving safety.

I've had my little window bird feeder up for about a month. I also put out hanging feeders - one with sunflower seeds and the other with thistle seeds. According to experts I found on line, these are the best options for birds in our area. I'm actually pretty new to bird feeding. I never liked the mess left from the birds kicking out what they didn't want and having all sorts of varmints hanging out. An example - a neighbor about half a mile from me has fed the birds for years. This year she's had problems with squirrels and a really big flock of turkeys! She set a trap for the squirrels because she could hear them running around overhead in her ceilings. I lent her a Hav-a-heart trap I used to use when we lived at camp and had a big squirrel problem; she set the trap and caught a bluejay! No matter what, the squirrels avoided it, so she gave up. Well, maybe she borrowed a .22 from another neighbor - I don't know. Actually, after the turkeys invaded her lawn a few times, I think she gave up feeding the birds.

Anyway, I'd had my feeder out for a while and saw only one or two chickadees over a span of three or four weeks. One little guy came for a little while each morning, but I rarely saw more than that. So I bought some of the mixture I'd used last year; it has nuts and fruit and cracked corn, and although there was a lot of filler seeds the birds never touched, this stuff went pretty well last year. I put some of that out for them yesterday and today there were literally dozens waiting in the trees to take turns, one at a time, at the little feeder. The hanging feeders are getting a little attention, as well. 

I'm really glad to see them back - I've seen mostly chickadees and nuthatches, but I expect there will be others as word gets around. It's amazing how they find feeders and how they must communicate to their buddies where there's easy pickin's. Word is out, and it's great fun to watch them, mostly very patient and respectful, each choosing a morsel and then flying off into one of the big spruce trees to devour it. The turnover is pretty rapid. Nobody has to wait in line very long. I was beginning to think our bird population had diminished in the past year, but apparently it was just that the menu needed to be upgraded!