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!

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

On my way out the door yesterday morning, I noticed the feeders were almost empty, but there seemed to be enough to make it until lunch time. At one point mid-morning, I was looking out my office window and saw a Downy Woodpecker exploring a couple of nearby trees. The director with whom I was chatting on the phone was not nearly as excited as I was (perhaps her inability to see it from 100 miles away had something to do with it.) As soon as I hung up, I broke out the old binoculars that lurk around the office and watched the downy for a moment before it flew away. However, it would not be my last encounter with that woodpecker yesterday…

At lunch, I went home to fill the feeders. I gathered the necessary supplies (a small can, a water bottle I cut to sort of resemble a scoop, and the seed mix) and made my way to the door. There were several chickadees, goldfinches, and siskins going to town on what seed remained in the feeders, so I stood there at the door observing them for a moment. Despite trying my best to slowly opening the door, sure enough by the time I slid the door half-way open they darted off. I made my way across the crusty snow took the first feeder down, filled it, hung it back up, and retrieved the second feeder. As I went to hang it back up, I was greeted by a siskin perched on the first feeder. I think it startled me more than the other way around. I lost the impromptu staring contest and it flew away in a victorious manner.

I went back inside to eat my lunch. No sooner had I sat down than a “tap, tap, tap-tap-tap-tap” could be heard on the eastern side of my house. This same noise had woken me the morning before and I had a distinct feeling that it was a woodpecker. Unlike that first time, I was able to quickly make my way outside in time to see…a downy woodpecker fly away. I did not have a difficult time finding where it had been drumming—there were several noticeable holes in the cedar siding. (I’ll do a more in-depth entry on this saga another day.) This was not such a thrilling discovery, but there was nothing I could do at the moment except go finish my lunch.



When I finished eating, I noticed a siskin in the window feeder. So I grabbed my camera and slowly made my way to the window. Next thing I know I had taken almost seventy shots of the siskin. I got a kick out of watching it trying to figure out what the “big” gray thing was a few inches from its face. If you want to see some of the better shots, I created a Pine Siskin album. Otherwise, here are a couple of my favorites:







As I was getting ready to head back down to the office, the downy showed up again. So, I took an alternate route out of my sunroom and snuck around the side of the house. Apparently, it thinks it has found the mother lode of a tree! The motion of raising my camera was enough to startle it off. I did get another shot of the portion of the siding it is excavating. I did some research and I will be implementing some non-lethal techniques to discourage the downy from re-visiting my siding!

One more encounter to share—as I headed back around the side of the house, there was a siskin at the feeder beckoning me to come say “hello”. Luckily my camera was set and I cautiously approached the little bird on the red feeder. It allowed me to get incredibly close and I got a cute close-up shot of it. I think with a little work, I may be able to hand feed a couple of my visitors soon!

Birding in Tough Economic Times (and a Goldfinch Update)

UPDATE: The finch sock seems to be doing the trick. I’ve seen at least six individual finches hanging around the yard the last couple of days. Here are some better shots of one in the feeder and one having a bite to eat from the new sock.



I’m hoping that I receive enough cash/gift cards at Christmas to purchase a metal garbage can to place in my sunroom (Santa—any metal can with lid will suffice). Now you’re probably wondering why I would ever want to put a garbage can in my living space…to put bird seed in, of course. As much as I enjoy feeding the birds, I don’t enjoy feeding the mice. Living in the country has its many bonuses. Having to deal with mice is not one of them (although Bill, one of our maintenance guys, discovered an ingenious method to deal with mice. But I digress…) If you have purchased bird seed recently, you know how expensive it can be. Protecting one’s investment only makes sense.

Speaking of investments… I came across an excellent article in defense of birdwatching the other day. If you ever need to rationalize this addiction (oops, I mean hobby), I highly recommend you consult this article!

American Goldfinch

I remember the first time I saw an American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis). I was walking down the main stairs of Sidney Dining Hall here at the Lake when a brilliant yellow bird in the brush across the drive caught my attention. (Incidentally, Sidney was replaced by Founders’ Lodge in 2003.) I just stood there mesmerized.

The other day, I was sitting on my couch watching one chickadee after another make its way to the feeder. All of a sudden another bird caught my attention. While it was similar in size to a chickadee, it was certainly not a chickadee. After flipping through one of my bird guides for a few minutes, I positively identified it as a goldfinch with winter/non-breeding plumage. Its plumage only hinted at being yellow, which initially threw me, but once I was able to see it fly in its roller coaster fashion around the yard I was convinced.

I tried my best to slowly make my way closer to the sliding door, but alas goldfinches startle a little more easily than chickadees. Luckily once I stood still at the door for awhile it came back. Actually that’s not entirely true—it took a few false landings before finally perching long enough to pick up a seed. What a beautiful bird.



I had just begun tinkering with the magnifying setting on my camera when the goldfinch in the photo above landed. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some better shots of finches soon—I hung a “sock” feeder filled with a nyjer/sunflower mix yesterday. The finches in my neighborhood are still a little skittish of the new feeder, but there were three of them hanging out on the barren deciduous shrubs in the yard yesterday, so it’s only a matter of time.

For those interested in learning more about the nyjer seed (which is not thistle!), I found a pretty descent article over at Shaw Creek Bird Supply’s website.