March Madness

As I write this, I’m sitting in my comfy green chair in the sunroom looking out at the feeders on the pole. My regular visitors appear to be thrilled that I just put some more black-oil sunflower seeds in the feeders. This month’s Wild Birds Unlimited newsletter mentioned that March is one of the most difficult months for birds—fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, and scarcity of natural food converge to make survival onerous. This tidbit of information appeared at about the same time I began to have the need to fill the feeders daily (rather than every other day.)

As it’s been so long since my last entry, I’ve created a top ten list of my most exciting bird moments:

10. Going Crazy with My New Camera—I’ve now taken over 3000 photos on my new Rebel XS. I think it would be safe to assume that more than 50% of those exposures are of birds. (Most of which are of my most frequent visitors—chickadees, siskins, and goldfinches.)


9. Dinky Downy, Huge Hairy—the suet feeder on the pole has been attracting both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. It was not until both visited within minutes of each other two weeks ago that I was finally able to differentiate between the two. As the saying goes, a Downy has a smaller bill and build than the Hairy. (The Hairy is by no means huge when compared to the Pileated—but that’s a story for another time.)

Downy Woodpecker


Hairy Woodpecker

8. A Little Brown Bird—small, brown birds can sometimes be impossible for novices to identify, when that occurs they are categorized as “LBB” (little brown bird.) I sent the pic below to Joyce, who easily recognized it as a Song Sparrow.


7. Startled by a Red-tailed Hawk—I was delivering some clues around the lake for the first of the confirmation retreats last weekend, when a Red-tailed Hawk came swooping in from over the lake and perched on a branch about 15 yards away. It certainly is worthy of its name.

6. Discovering a New Finch (for me at least)—a small finch that appeared as if it had been dipped in fruit punch perched on the feeder pole last week. After some in-depth investigating, I determined it was not a House Finch, but actually a Purple Finch.


5. Is it a Fox or a Sparrow—spending hours now pouring through my field guides finally paid off yesterday, when I noticed yet another “LBB” scratching the ground below the feeder and was easily able to identify it. For nearly thirty minutes, I observed this migrating Fox Sparrow feast at the all-you-can-eat-buffet that is the ground below my feeder.


4. The Courtship of Eddie’s Father—I acquired another life bird yesterday afternoon. I noticed two birds following each other from tree to tree. As they zoomed across they yard, I recognized them as Hairy Woodpeckers. Initially I thought they were chasing one another (aggression increases as breeding season approaches), but when they stopped long enough for me to observe them with my larger binoculars I realized I was looking at a male and a female. It was my first time seeing a female Hairy.

3. “Scent-sing” Something at My Feeders—last Saturday evening I was sitting on the couch, when I sensed something at the feeders (which was kind of eerie). So I got up, turned the lights off, and peered out the sliding glass door. I’m glad I didn’t open the door, because this is what I saw:

Brings a whole new meaning to "pole cats"!

2. Matt 2, Squirrels 1—the squirrels began visiting my yard in earnest while I was in California and it’s now normal to see six gray and two red squirrels hanging around the pole every morning. The baffle on the pole continues to do just that; while the carabineer clips on the finch feeder prevent it from being batted down to the ground. I do have to give credit to the acrobatic squirrel that made its way onto the window feeder. I’m still winning, though.

1. Return of the Robins—I don’t care what the experts say, Robins do not stick around here in the winter. So when I thought I heard a Robin about ten days ago, I thought I was just being optimistic. That changed last Saturday morning when I not only heard, but saw a Robin announcing the arrival of spring!

Hopefully it won’t be another six weeks before I write again!