Here are some For the Birds column starts with links to the complete versions.
Visit https://www.sentinelsource.com/opinion/columnists/staff/bosak/ for more columns.
Everyone’s got a top 10 list these days. David Letterman is only the tip of the iceberg.
Top 10 cities for young professionals under six feet tall. Top 10 breakfast places in Kansas. Top 10 purple dresses to wear in May.
The birding world is not immune to top 10 lists. Heck, even I do an annual top 10 birding highlights of the year column every January. Personally, I love top 10 lists. I’m attracted to top 10 headlines like a moose is drawn to a salt lick.
For the rest of the column, click here: http://www.thehour.com/sports/outdoor/for-the-birds-ways-to-help-the-birds/article_0b6333c0-d9bf-5b2e-9856-15b18bf2ffb1.html
Birds of New England.com 
My top birding experience (actually two top experiences) of 2014 occurred in mid to late December just before the ice covered Spofford Lake. On two occasions I witnessed to mature Bald Eagles working together to drown a duck. I had seen this once before about 15 years ago. After seeing this the first time I looked up Bald Eagles in the encyclopedia, yes it was that long ago and I’m old, and it mentioned this form of hunting
The two eagles take turns diving at the duck. The duck dives to avoid be grabbed by the sharp talons, as soon as he comes up for air the second eagle dives at it and forces it to dive again. Eventually, the duck becomes exhausted and the eagles are able to grab it.
Unfortunately I was unable to video this but it was remarkable to watch.
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Thanks for writing, Jay. Sounds like a great day at the lake.
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Dear Mr. Bosak, I love your column and am looking for a place where I can identify my local birds. I am limited in my mobility and am disabled.I have several feeders and am seeing many friends this year that I am unable to identify. Can you assist me? I’m in southern New Hampshire,Thank you so much.
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Hello and thanks for writing. You can try some of the online field guides, such as http://www.allaboutbirds.org. Or please feel free to send me an email and describe the bird(s). I’ll do my best to help you out. You can email me at bozclark@earthlink.net
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Hi Chris. On my daily walk at Calf Pasture Beach, I was approaching Shady Beach and I heard a lot of squawking in a tree. As I got nearer, the tree was filled with birds. All of a sudden a few birds took off over my head and saw they were a greenish color. I knew right away they were wild parrots. I had friends living in the Lordship section of Stratford and had seen them and their nests there. There must have been at least 50 in the tree at Shady Beach. I didn’t know if you were aware of them in Norwalk. Jerry Blore
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Thanks for writing Jerry. I haven’t seen them in a while but i’ve seen the Monk Parakeets at Calf before. I know they don’t belong here, but they are pretty neat to see. Of course I don’t have to live by them either.
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I have spent a lot of time in close proximity to Shaker village and am amazed at the variety of birds present. I counted 18 varieties in one day during the summer. I was even aware that a whippoorwill was nesting close by and saddened to never hear his call. We moved to NH from Cape Cod in 1983 and I have not heard one call yet. On this past Valentines day, we had a flock of about 20 fat and sassy robins stop by. I have only seen one or two since. On the same time day we had two bluebirds visit. Neither the robins nor bluebirds were interested in the feeder which was taken over by dozens of chickadees, nuthatches, including a red breasted one, and titmice, woodpeckers and cardinals. We have one Mr cardinal and two Mrs. We also have had red polls since mid Jan and this has been a treat for me as I have never seen them before. We had a lone flicker and early winter a rose breasted grosbeak. Do Bluebirds winter here? Since they prefer insects etc, I would expect them to dally south for awhile. On the Cape every year on March 4th, we had huge flocks of redwing blackbirds, blackbirds, starlings. cowbirds, grackles all arrive together. a lot of Redwings would stay til fall. I enjoy your birding column in the paper.
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Hi Nancy. Thanks for writing. Sounds like a busy winter for you so far. Good for you. Some bluebirds will stick around all winter and eat berries and visit backyard feeders for mealworms and suet. Thanks again for sharing your birds.
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Can the bluebirds be “enticed” to nest here as well? We have a big Shaker field behind us and lots of smaller trees and two huge spruce. I know someone that serves them frozen mealworms for the nestlings.
More than anything I miss the call of the whippoorwill. They were a constant On the Cape. We did have one nesting in Canterbury last summer, but voiceless. Any way to cozx them?
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Hi Nancy. I don’t see why bluebirds wouldn’t want to nest there. It seems like good habitat for them. You can always put up a few bluebird boxes in the middle of the field and see what happens. As far as whippoorwills are concerned … they seem to be declining throughout the region and they aren’t feeder birds or next in birdhouses, so there’s no real way that I know of to attract them to a yard.
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