More returning friends

You saw in my last post that the first dark eyed junco of the season returned a week early on October 18th... well, on November 13th, 3 weeks later, his first friend arrived!

Today (Nov 14th), the Downy Woodpecker made his return to the suet feeder in my yard. That got me thinking about suet...

Check out this video from Sharon Stiteler, the BirdChick, on no-melt peanut butter suet, available from the BirdChick Store on the OpenSky Project.

Dark Eyed Juncos Return

They left 6 months ago to the day... and today, the dark eyed juncos have returned - 7 days earlier this year than last year. They're so cute, but I am not ready for winter!

It's 54 degrees and partly cloudy. Fall weather kicked in early this year. We didn't have much of a summer, and I'm wondering if that has anything to do with their early return this year. The white crowned sparrow returned last week.

Springtime

Spring has sprung here (finally!), and we're starting to get some flowers and buds on trees.

The last of the dark eyed juncos finally left about a week ago. I'll miss you, juncos!



The ducks are back! No baby ducks yet, but I love that the mallards come up to my deck. They're like vacuum cleaners, gobbling up all the seed leftovers that even the mourning doves won't touch.

After the horrible winter here that appears to have wiped out 80% of my backyard finch population, there are a few house finches that are still around (4 is the most I've counted, down from upwards of 30). I have yet to see the goldfinches return. I had 4 that wintered here, but haven't seen them since our last deep freeze.



This week, 4 white crowned sparrows have taken to visiting my feeders. One is out there right now. I had 2 come by over the winter, so I'm really glad to see these guys. A male and female cardinal stop by every so often, and of course the grackles and red-winged blackbirds have returned.

I've cut back on the offering of cheap bird seed, putting it only in 1 feeder now. The mourning doves and sparrows gobble it up, but so do the grackles and brown headed cowbirds. Oy. So I've been introducing safflower seed in one of the feeders. I also have nyger and sunflower hearts and year-round suet, and occasionally I'll put out the fruit and nut songbird mix (though the grackles usually mog that, too). I don't mind the grackles - it's just that they come here and eat EVERYTHING. I have 6 feeders, and filling them all used to last all day - but now that the grackles are back, they'll plow through it all by noon! So I've got to find something the grackles don't like.

I added a couple new birds to my life list a couple weeks ago, with a visit to Renwick Lake and to Lockport Prairie.

I met with double crested cormorants:


and blue winged teals:


Also saw the herons nesting, which was pretty cool.


There's a strange bit of green ivy-like leaves growing as sort of a blanket under the tree in my back yard. It's growing up some of the brush and twigs as well. I just noticed that it's only under my tree, and not all along the brush down the creek. A few of the same little leaves have sprouted up under my feeders. It must be something from the bird seed, growing! I wonder if it'll turn into any pretty flowers or anything. They look very green and lush right now.

That's all my news. We've got thunderstorms on tap all day today, so I put out minimal seed. It's been raining all morning, and while the birds had a little bit of a break just now, the rains are back and they've flown for cover in the tree. They're still singing, which is so nice to hear!

Dark Eyed Junco

I love the slate colored dark eyed juncos that visit me every day. A poofed-out junco hopping around can warm even the coldest of days. With their "hoppy" mannerisms, they always seem to be upbeat, even in dreary weather.

The dark eyed juncos spend most of the year up in Canada, and come down to the US only in the winter, earning them the nickname "snowbirds."

I love my little snowbirds, and not being a fan of winter, at least I've got their visits to look forward to.

ONE Poofy Junco!

One bird stopped by my tree this morning... ONE poofy junco! Indeed, I can get much closer shots with the digiscope than with my 300mm lens alone. Of course, this guy chose to sit in the shade instead of the sun, so the shutter speed was pretty low (even with the high ISO I used - ISO800). Still, I'm happy that he posed long enough for me to try out my new rig!



I'm off to do the family thing... again, happy holidays to all!

Who needs sleep?

Sleep was neither lengthy nor restful last night. I have no idea why. If all had gone according to plan, my alarm clock would have gone off a minute ago, and I'd be snoozing right now. Instead, I've been up for 3 1/2 hours after sleeping for less than 4.

I'm not one to give up on trying to sleep. Damn it, I'll force myself to sleep if need be! Unfortunately for me (since today is the second of my "long days" at work), I had so much work I needed to get done before noon today that I couldn't stop thinking about it once I woke up.

Couple that with the fact that the hawk was back for another meal today, and ate the damn junco right beneath my bedroom window; there was no going back to sleep for me.

Why the juncos? Why not the house sparrows? Not that I dislike the sparrows, but there are like 5 house sparrows for every one junco at my feeders. And the juncos are SO adorable! Cute little white bellies.



We got our first measurable snow last night, and the birds have been INSANE at the feeders this morning.

The mystery bird was back again today, and again I couldn't get a photo of him before he left, but he was pecking on a tree when I saw him... clues... I think he's a Northern Flicker woodpecker. I can't say with certainty until I get a pic of him or see him a couple more times so I can figure out his beak shape and check out the colors of his crown and rump (ha! I said rump!) But I suspected that's what he might be when I first saw him, and now that he did some tree pecking, I think I was right. The Downy hasn't been back. He'd better hurry. The finches and juncos have figured out how to peck at the woodpecker fruit/nut seed block.

/edit - GOT A PIC of the mystery bird! Holy cow, I do NOT think this is a Flicker and I have NO clue what it is! I can't find it in any of my books. I've asked the Flickr bird ID group again...





The red winged blackbird visited briefly this morning, and the trees have been full of house sparrows, finches, and mourning doves all day.

I guess I'd better go to work now that I've spent an hour birding! I love my avian friends!

Here Come the Juncos!

I had my largest junco visit this morning - 9! There are usually 3-4 visiting, and I think that became 3 last week when the hawk made a catch. But today, there are 9 little ones out there hopping around.



I added a block of nut and fruit (a "woodpecker block") to the tree in the back yard, and I've got a new octagonal tray feeder hanging on the deck. I haven't seen the downy woodpecker around today to try the block, but a couple female finches are giving it their best go! A couple finches ate out of the new cedar feeder today, but nobody seems to be trying the suet yet.

We're expecting 2-4 inches of snow tonight, so hopefully the restocking I did last night will give the birds enough fuel to get through the snow storm.