I have been grounded, so to speak, due to a bad back. This has not prevented me from enjoying the antics of the yard birds, however. I have had a lot of fun watching a pair of Downy Woodpeckers courting, I assume, with great tail flaring and sky pointing. They have been chasing each other from one box elder to another. I took a short walk yesterday and, although there were no "new" bigby birds, I did get to watch a Red-bellied Woodpecker work around an old stump of a tree at Lake Park and see a Cooper's Hawk clear out the feeder area in one swoop. I still have not seen a Belted Kingfisher along the river, although I had spotted one by now last year. At present, I will leave the glories of scoters, wood ducks and fantastic gulls to the more abled.