The Zen Birdfeeder

Wordless Wednesday

Tufted Titmouse

Evening Grosbeak - A "Common Bird in Decline"

Last week, I saw seven Evening Grosbeaks at my feeders, which is the largest group I've seen at my upstate NY feeders in 16 years of feeding.  In all those years, if I saw 3-4 birds, it was significant. Two more visited our feeders today.

Wanda, a Wild Birds Unlimited customer, recently sent us this photograph of Evening Grosbeaks at her feeding station.  She counted 12 grosbeaks and has never seen this many of them at her feeder either.

Photo courtesy of Wanda Perkins

Late this summer, I saw a male evening feeding a young grosbeak - the first I'd witnessed of Evening Grosbeak breeding activities in the area.

And back in April, a male grosbeak visited the feeders, his huge bill a brilliant chartreuse indicative of breeding plumage.  Read our "Evening Grosbeaks Return" post of April 27 that includes an audio clip of the grosbeak call.

Customers tell us stories of years past when they would have huge flocks of Evening Grosbeaks  descend upon yards and feeders.  Just imagine seeing and hearing hundreds of these large, vocal birds - what a spectacle that must have been!

Unfortunately, few people have experienced that.  In the last few decades, Evening Grosbeaks are most often reported in groups numbering only in the single digits.

Yet there are predictions of a strong irruptive year of winter finches like the grosbeak.  Just within the past couple weeks, we're hearing of more frequent sightings of the Evening Grosbeak and sightings of "higher numbers" (it is all relative) at feeders. Why is this so important?  What is so significant about sightings of Evening Grosbeaks?

Earlier this year, Audubon issued a list of Common Birds In Decline based on years of citizen science projects such as the Christmas Bird Count and the Breeding Bird Survey.  Their study revealed an alarming decline in many of our most common birds and the Evening Grosbeak was number 2 on that list, second only to the Northern Bobwhite.

Since 1967, in just 40 years, the population of the Evening Grosbeak has declined 78%, from 17 million to 3.8 million.

All 20 birds on the national Common Birds in Decline list lost at least half their populations in just four decades.  Read more about all the birds on the Common Birds in Decline list.

The study warns, "The one distinction these common species share is the potential to become uncommon unless we all take action to protect them and their habitat."

Each of us can take individual action that can help make a difference.  Audubon suggests: 
- Conserve energy at home
- Fight global warming and urge your lawmakers to pass laws to fight global warming
- Monitor feeders keeping them clean and healthy for all birds including the Evening Grosbeak
- Become a citizen scientist in such projects as Project FeederWatch, The Great Backyard Bird Count, eBird, or Audubon's Christmas Bird Count.
- Protect Local Habitat
- Support Sustainable Forests.
- Learn more about the Boreal Forest in the Northern U.S. and Canada. (The boreal is essential breeding territory for many species of birds, including Evening Grosbeaks.)

The next time you see Evening Grosbeaks in your yard, close your eyes and imagine them GONE.  Not just flown away, but GONE and never to return.  At the current rate of decline, that is not beyond the realm of possibility.  Audubon's study is a call to action.  A call to each of us to do what we can in our daily lives to protect these "common" birds so they do not become uncommon, or worse yet, rare, endangered, or extinct.

   

Wordless Wednesday

Monarchs still around on a late coneflower bloom

Are We In for a Strong Winter Finch Season?

A single Pine Siskin started visiting my feeders in late September.  Seven Evening Grosbeaks visited last Sunday.  Does the appearance of these birds mark the beginning of a strong season of winter finches?

The Pine Siskin is one of the "irruptive" winter finches, meaning they periodically move south during the winter in search of food.  These irruptions tend to follow a two-year cycle. For example, if you had large numbers of finches visiting your feeders during the winter of 2005-2006, chances are you had few or none visiting in the winter of 2006-2007.   

Here's a link from the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) showing Pine Siskin group sizes from the year 2000 to 2007.  It shows a pattern that roughly follows a 2-year cycle.  There were few Pine Siskins reported in New York for the February 2007 GBBC.  Following a typical biennial cycle, we can expect higher numbers of irruptive species such as Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls this coming winter.  Other irruptive winter finches seen in our area are Common Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks, and Purple Finches.

A DC Birding Blog recently posted a summary of the Winter Finch Forecast out of Ontario Canada.  Overall, poor food supplies in Canada further suggest that we may have good numbers of these winter finches at our feeders this year.  Good news!

Watch your finch feeders for the very gregarious Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll.  And keep an eye on platform and hopper feeders for the beautiful Evening Grosbeak.

Wordless Wednesday

A New Hawk at an Unexpected Place

You never know when or where you'll add a new bird to your life list.  We hiked the wonderful trails at the Adirondack Park Visitor Interpretive Center in Newcomb New York and had little more than a chickadee on our list.  A great day with friends but not much in the way of birds.

Then we drive the busy mall area around Route 50 and Old Gick Road and we see a Rough legged Hawk!

This immature brown morph rough legged was enjoying his meal of fresh rodent right at this busy intersection.  We pulled into a bank parking lot for these pics and with the new construction underway just across the street, this guy finished off his lunch in one big gulp.

Bob Budliger and Gregory Kennedy in Birds of New York State describe the Rough legged Hawk as "truly a bird of the Far North, breeding in arctic and subaractic habitats in North America and across Eurasia".  They are known as BUTEO LAGOPUS, with "lagopus" meaning hare's foot in reference to the rough legged's feathered legs.  What a view of those legs we got! 

Check out these resources on the Rough-legged Hawk:
Cornell's All About Birds
Wild Birds Unlimited rightbird online field guide

Keep your eyes open - you'll never know what treasures from far off places you might see in nature, anytime, anyplace!

Wordless Wednesday

A Good (e)Bird Day

I apologize for my extended absence.  I had major issues with my computer that keep me down for nearly a week.  Thanks for hanging in there!

Last Monday (Oct 1), I had a great day of bird counting for eBird. A total of 16 species and 59 individuals.

The most numerous birds were Purple Finches again, while the number of Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows continue to increase.

Midday, a Cooper's Hawk came through the yard pursuing Blue Jays.  It came up empty handed but paused long enough for me to get a photo of it, albeit a poor one.

I'm still enjoying having a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Rose breasted Grosbeak around.

Here's what I reported to eBird for the day:

Purple Finch  12
Mourning Dove  7
American Goldfinch  6
Blue Jay  5
Dark-eyed Junco  5
White-throated Sparrow  5
Black capped Chickadee  4
Red breasted Nuthatch  3
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Tufted Titmouse  2
White breasted Nuthatch  2
American Crow  2
Downy Woodpecker  1
Yellow bellied Sapsucker
Cooper's Hawk  1
Rose breasted Grosbeak  1

Just a reminder that Cornell's Project Feeder Watch is coming up in November.  Read more about this important citizen science project.

By providing the right habitat that includes food, water, shelter and a place to raise young, you don't have to go far to experience great birds.

Wordless Wednesday

Zen Nature Lessons

This monthly feature highlights 3 blog posts from the last month that exemplify the Zen nature lessons of Attention, Acceptance, and Responsibility. I encourage you to take a moment to enjoy them.

Attention

Monarch's attention to nature helped him discover a wonderful creature on the forest floor.  His post "Tiger Serpent of the forest" features the caterpillar of the Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. The pictures are delightful!

Acceptance

Mike (of the 10,000 Birds team) and his son encounter an injured Downy Woodpecker in this thoughtful post.  Birds become ill or injured for any number of reasons; this is a good lesson in acceptance. 

Responsibility

The Birdfreak team brings us another lesson in responsibility in their post "Duck Stamps - More Birds for your Buck". Bird lovers are encouraged to support conservation and the National Wildlife Refuge System through the Federal Duck Stamp program.
Namaste