Sitting on the front steps gives us opportunity to see a full range of birds. If we don’t see them, we hear them. Crows are typical, but pounding woodpeckers are not as common. When we hear light tapping, we begin looking around at our trees. Sometimes the pounding is like hammering; loud but far away: probably a pileated woodpecker. Last night, from the driveway during Murphy’s nightly walk, we hear loons screaming and giggling, and crooning in their weird sounding ways.

At left is a chipping sparrow looking for something along the ground.
Then, there are other (probably sparrows of a sort in this case, ) sitting on whatever they can find (see image at right). Maybe this is a nuthatch? It is too brown, I think.

He is sitting on an old sign post now used to mark the maple stump at the corner of the driveway so Wally doesn’t hit it with his snowplow.