Cinnamon would say "Happy Halloween" if she didn't disapprove of it.
Did you ever start a project you thought would take an hour maybe two and then took over the ENTIRE weekend? Thanks to the new job at Eagle Optics I have some fun stuff to travel around with--I thought I was popular before, but have a case of optics for people to test out and your cool points skyrocket. Rather than leaving the case out for Cinnamon to sit on I decided that if I just rearranged a few things in a particular closet then the case would fit beautifully in it...well at least the closet is organized now and my home office is coming along quite nicely.
Didn't get much birding in this weekend as a result of the closet ordeal but I did notice that a blue jay in our neighborhood is mimicking the crows very well, only its caws are much softer and a bit rapid--impressive nonetheless. I know blue jays can be trained to talk and mimic just about any bird, but I had only heard them mimic red-shouldered hawks and broad-winged hawks in the wild before.
In other news, I have a chickadee acting a little strange at the bird feeder. Apparently, it hasn't read the books that describe chickadee feeding behavior as grabbing one seed flying to a nearby branch, peck it open and eat it. This chickadee just sat at the feeder eating sunflower and peanuts. I thought this was smart since that would save energy, but I'm sure there is some predator defense that works since most chickadees grab a seed and eat it elsewhere.
Brown creepers have just taken over the neighborhood, you hear them everywhere you go. OH! And I almost forgot! The other morning the crows went ballistic. I thought for sure from the commotion that they had found an owl. I quickly shoved on some shoes, grabbed my binos and digital camera and dashed out the door. I 
went down the ally toward the commotion and couldn't find any raptors in the trees and looked down. Thirty feet away on the ground was a young Cooper's hawk sitting on a freshly killed pigeon. I started to digiscope with the camera and binoculars. It didn't turn out well because the flash went off. I would have stayed had I not started to attract the attention of neighbors. Surely a short red head in her pajamas and boots sporting binoculars and a camera taking photos in people's backyards wouldn't look that suspicious? Well, the one photo I did get, the bird has glowing eyes (above), which seems appropraite for the holiday. As if accipiters didn't look creepy enough as it is.