JP48

Interesting question. My feeders (northern VT) have been fairly normally occupied (suet, peanuts, a mix with mainly sunflower seed, and some finch feed), but I have heard from others around that they have gone through stretches with very little feeder activity. I suspect weather rather than lack of birds. There have been very few cold temperatures and very little snow (compared to normal) so far this winter, so I expect the birds are finding plenty to eat elsewhere. Yesterday I kept track for two hours and saw a total of 6 birds in 5 species. I went away for a half hour and came back to over 20 birds in 9 species out there at the same time. It all evens out, I guess.

A few Dark-eyed Juncos and a couple of Tufted Titmice just showed up at the feeders at the same time.

@chipperatl yes, I use that eBird feature, but generally when I'm going on a trip outside my home area. Very handy feature.

This is an interesting topic. I appreciate seeing what others do. I have a spreadsheet with all the birds ever seen in my state, in five columns from common to very rare. I keep separate annual sheets for each of the counties I normally bird in (we aim to get 150 species in each county here in this state). I also keep a lifetime sheet for the state. I mark the ones I've seen so that I can develop target lists. There is also a separate (lifetime) sheet for species for which I have submitted photos and/or audio on eBird, and another sheet for lifetime NA species. I'm going to create another sheet to keep track of species spotted in the town where I live. I need to build a patch on eBird for all the locations in the town to get sightings data to feed the sheet. I tend to use 'needs' lists from eBird to see what others are spotting in each county and the state, but the spreadsheets are handy for target lists.

Seems like it's time for this one...

Interesting point about Java/Flash. There is an option to use Java there, but I don't think many use it. I don't know what is used in the option I choose. You are right. I did not use the proper terminology here. I meant privacy and not security. To get back to the point, there are a lot of variables, apparently, when it comes to being able to use a site. I think everything on the new eBird works for me, though I didn't see the 'Manage Media' button until I went back to a list where I had included media. Logical, but had me confused for a minute or two. To me, it's appropriate to use the latest version of whatever software you prefer, and figure out what's going wrong from there.

All this brings to mind a problem I had a while ago. I site I visit daily (it's a puzzle I do) stopped working. The form that is drawn to do the puzzle simply failed to draw. I was using Chrome on my laptop at the time. I switched to Microsoft Edge, where it worked fine. Eventually the laptop died, as they do eventually, and I bought one of a different brand. On a lark, I tried Chrome on the new laptop, and it worked well. Each browser drew the form a little differently, but each was usable in it's own way.Since then I have read a couple of articles that suggested that most browsers (and specifically Chrome) were not particularly secure, and that the most secure was Firefox (apparently they store less data about you that is in turn sold to companies that want to sell you stuff based on your browsing history - don't know if this is true, but I read it on the internet, so it must be true, right?). But I digress. My point is that different browsers handled the same page differently, and that the same browser handled the same page differently on different vendor's computers. BTW, I use Windows 10, and keep it updated, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that those of you on different OS versions would have different results.

To add to what Charlie just said, I have had problems in the past using ad blockers and pop-up blocker. Seems like my problem was with check-list sharing, but still, something to consider.

I reported these as 1) Semipalmated Sandpiper, and 2) Wood Duck, and just want to know if I'm right or wrong. August 30, mid-Vermont in the Champlain Valley.

Could be a non-breeding Spotted Sandpiper.

Sounds something like an American Goldfinch. Otherwise, no ideas.

Unencumbered by top-notch hearing, I'd suggest Eastern Towhee. I heard one that sounded like that once, and I was a little confused until I spotted it. Since then I've noticed quite a variety in their songs.

Doesn't really sound quite like either, but a couple of possibilities are Dark-eyed Junco and Pine Warbler. The Juncos especially would be likely to be at high elevations this time of year.

Might be a Carolina Wren.

Interesting suggestion, thanks! I think that should have occurred to me before, having myself been surprised by their songs, also. Anyway, it appears it was most likely some common bird vocalizing in an uncommon way. Thanks for the reply.