A New Life Bird Red-throated Loon and Pesky Woodpeckers bring in Pesky Starlings

Today was a good day because I added another bird to my life list. There has been a Red-throated Loon reported at Lee Kay Ponds in Salt Lake City just south of the City dump. Today my brother in law Frank and I went to search for it. We were rewarded and got several good looks at it from my spotting scope. It was too far out in the pond to get a picture.

Every spring the Northern Flickers start drumming on the sides of our office building. I am told that they feel or hear the sound of electricity in the walls of the building and peck at them thinking they are insects. Every year they punch many holes in the building.

You can see where this area has been patched before and now there is a new hole in the building.

But the holes don't go unused every year several families of European Starlings set up housekeeping in the holes.
Several years ago a well meaning young lady came to me distraught because there was a poor baby bird on the ground and wanted me to take care of it. I was quite certain that the bird was a Starling and my first reaction was to wring it's neck, but I have a reputation to keep as the go to guy in our building when it comes to birds and that would have destroyed my reputation. Sure enough it was a young starling just too big for the nest but not quite ready to fly. I have watched mother birds continue to feed and watch over babies that leave the nest before honing their flying skills. Help this poor baby bird was her plea. So I caught the bird and got the maintenance guy to let me on the roof and I placed the bird back in it's nest. I was a hero. After work when I left for  the the day the baby was back on the ground and mother was watching over it.

This bird seems to be the watchman on the tower keeping us safe from all kinds of calamities.

On a more positive note American Kestrels also nest in some of the holes. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the Kestrels.