I'm assuming a small bird at my feeders was the attention of a male AMERICAN KESTREL that swooped into the yard and actually HIT our living room window! The run-in with the window didn't injure him though; he simply flew off and circled once or twice over the building before moving on. Interestingly, I have only seen a kestrel one other time from the yard... and I'm pretty sure that one DIDN'T hit our apartment.
We have noticed a large increase of DARK-EYED JUNCOS in our yard during the past several days. Other birders in Iowa have reported the same trend lately; huge numbers visiting their yards as well. This must be the peak of their movement back to the north for the summer.
Speaking of summer, we had a THIRTEEN-LINED GROUND-SQUIRREL in our yard today. We have seen this species only one other time this spring and that was just down the road here in Ames.
