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!

Snowy Sunday

We received a good six to seven inches of fresh powder overnight here at the Lake and a light snow has continued to fall throughout the day. I’m not always a fan of driving in the stuff, but I do love the way snow makes everything look. The bitter cold weather seems to have passed and my feathered friends seemed to have managed to survive. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of my window feeder. As I went to clean it out on Friday afternoon, one of the suction cups slid and that was that. It is now sitting inside waiting for slightly warmer temperatures to make an appearance. (In order for the suction cups to actually hold the temperature needs to be above freezing.)

There has been a steady stream of visitors at the other feeders over the weekend. The cold weather and snow doesn’t seem to slow the birds down at all. Yesterday I did notice that there was more seed mix on the ground below the feeders than usual. A few minutes later I think I figures out the reason—I saw a blue jay scrunched up at the wooden feeder trying to get some food. I wish that I had had my camera at that moment, because the whole scenario was just too funny. It didn’t seem to be intentionally throwing seed down to the ground, but the sheer weight of the bird made the feeder tip quite a bit (to the point where I thought the jay might fall off.) It was quite humorous to watch. Guess the feeder is smaller than I thought…

I committed a faux pas yesterday and didn’t refill the feeders before the sun went down. One of the outcomes though, was that the chickadees finally started nibbling on the suet that I had put out a couple weeks ago. I was beginning to think I had gotten the wrong kind of suet, but they seemed to enjoy it this morning, so I may hold off on getting another cake until the current one is gone.

I leave you with a shot I got yesterday of two siskins munching away on nyger seed that had fallen from the sock feeder. (A lot more seed falls from the sock feeder when it’s almost empty…)

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!

Pine Siskin

The First Pine Siskin to Visit My Feeders

According to Peterson’s Birds of Eastern and Central North America, Pine Siskins (Carduelis pinus) are an “uncommon, irruptive” species. So I was pretty excited to spot one at my sock feeder the other day! About the only thing I enjoyed while suffering from the stomach bug was being able to watch my bird feeders from the couch. At one point, there appeared to be something new nibbling away at the sock feeder. It looked a lot like a goldfinch, but even from ten feet away its coloration seemed different enough to make me slowly get up off the couch and sneak a closer peek. I’m glad I did. As I got closer I saw it was darker than a goldfinch and had noticeable streaking on its breast and belly. Luckily my camera was right close by and I took a few snapshots.

I then spent quite a bit of time looking through my Peterson guide and my Birds of New York book trying to positively identify my new feathered friend. I even consulted the Cornell website. After my initial research I was able to narrow it down to being either a Pine Siskin or House Finch. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took really captured the tips of the bird’s wings or its tail and I hadn’t noticed any yellow in those locations in my direct observations. But I did have a couple of profile shots that showed the beak pretty well. Luckily, one showed up again the next day and I was able to observe the yellow streaks on its wings and tail, which confirmed my initial suspicions that it was indeed a Pine Siskin.

More Pine Siskins have shown up each day since my initial spotting. They are fun, little birds that appear to have a set pecking order amongst themselves. One of the other behavioral characteristics that I have noticed is that they’ll approach a feeder when a goldfinch or chickadee is already there, but will keep these other species away when the siskin is there first. Of course, it does give way to nuthatches and larger birds. As a side note, at one point yesterday morning I counted fourteen siskins at my various feeders.

Christmastide

The First Chickadee to Enjoy the New Feeder

It’s been a little longer than I had hoped since my last entry, but I’ll try to keep this somewhat short. Along with some awesome presents, I also received the stomach bug for Christmas! Fortunately it waited to strike until after I got home from my parents’ house in Greene… Needless to say, I did not enjoy that Christmas present!

Some of the highlights of Christmas 2008 for me were: going to the 11 o’clock Christmas Eve Service at Zion Episcopal Church (I enjoy “high church”, what can I say!?!); getting to sleep in on Christmas morning; staying true to the Williams Family tradition of doing the advent wreath while cinnamon buns were baking; enjoying said buns; taking a couple hours to open presents (even though there were only three of us); laughing hysterically when my mom spilled her soda while dishing up Lob Scows and watching my dad rescue the serving bowl first (who cares if the fancy placemats were getting soaked!?! At least the Lob Scows was safe!); and giving my parents the wonderful gift of my presence (it doesn’t take a lot to please them apparently.) For those that are curious, Lob Scows is a hearty meat and root vegetable (i.e. parsnips, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, carrots, etc.) stew that hails from the Anglesey region of Wales. My grandfather brought the family recipe with him when he came over from Gaerwen, Wales in the 1920s. It’s what we’ve had for Christmas dinner for as long as I can remember. Considering that it takes almost a day to prepare, it’s no wonder that we only make it once a year! We also started a new tradition this year of spreading bird seed at each exterior door. It’s actually a Scandinavian tradition that is supposed to bring good fortune in the New Year. The packs of seeds were gifts from Wild Birds Unlimited.

I received some great birding presents, including a couple of birdhouses, Peterson’s Field Guide to Eastern Birds, and some gift cards/cash that I applied toward some new birding toys. I also received an awesome new tripod for my camera (which I subsequently used to take some bird photos). It’s the same model tripod that we used to keep a photolog of our siding project when a group of us went to Kentucky on a mission trip in September. (I’ll try to upload some of those photos one of these days.)


Advanced Pole System

I thought I felt well enough last Saturday to go use some of my Christmas chest and purchased an Advanced Pole System from Wild Birds Unlimited, along with a raccoon baffle. Why a raccoon baffle and not just a squirrel baffle you might ask? Well, when I arrived home Christmas night and checked on the window and sock feeders and hung my new feeder, I looked down and noticed what appeared to be raccoon tracks in the snow! I’m not too keen on drawing raccoons to my feeders (they’ve been known to climb feeder poles too), so hopefully the baffle will deter them, as well as the squirrels. So far, it has done the trick. I also picked up a new metal trash can in which to store bird seed.

It was just about dusk when I got home with my new purchases, but I tried installing the pole in the yard. Unfortunately, I forgot that there’s only about three inches of soil in the yard. The rest is rock. At that moment, I would have testified that it was solid rock at that. I finally succumbed to a lack of energy and the fact that I had bent the part of the auger that was unsoldered to the pole. By this time I was exhausted and didn’t end up going to the annual Christmas bash at my friends’ house. On my way home from church the next morning, I stopped by the camp garage and picked up an iron bar and sledge hammer. Creating a guiding hole proved to be highly beneficial. The feeder pole went right into the ground after that. I ended up moving the new feeder to the pole and enjoyed watching some chickadees discover it before going to our summer staff reunion Sunday night.

I still didn’t have much of an appetite, but I enjoyed the reunion anyway—including the Yankee Swap gift exchange. The gift exchange basically involves everyone bringing a wrapped gift with an approximate $1 value. Everyone draws a number, thereby determining the picking order. The first person picks something from the pile and leaves the gift unopened. The next person picks either that gift or something else from the pile. Everything gets interesting when there are a few large packages that everyone seems to want and each round can last for several exchanges. When all was said and done, I ended up with the package that was filled with numerous wrapped boxes… I think the stress of opening all those boxes caused the stomach bug to hit me with a vengeance again on Monday. The only enjoyable part of the day was seeing my first Pine Siskin (more on that later!)

By Tuesday, I had started to get my energy (and appetite back). That afternoon, I ventured back to town and used my WBU gift card and $5 off coupon to purchase another feeder, a suet feeder, a special Advanced Pole System suet feeder attachment, and of course a suet cake. I also used some more of my Christmas chest to purchase some cheap pocket binoculars. My larger binoculars were too powerful to allow me to spy on the birds at the feeders! I think I am set with birding tools for awhile.

So that’s basically what I’ve done in the last week. I am now working on a couple more detailed birding entries and a review of my first First Night Binghamton. Stay tuned.