Catching up: Birds in the Yard

I haven't posted much lately about the birds in my yard so I'm catching up with a recap of the past couple weeks.  Project FeederWatch Week Three had a little slower activity but lots and lots of chickadees (17 of them!)

 
Black capped Chickadee on Heated Birdbath

They come in waves, along with titmice and nuthatches making up their large winter flock.  Mr. Cardinal is still around as well as lots of Dark-eyed Juncos.

 
Dark eyed Junco

Week Three Totals
Blue Jay  9
American Goldfinch  4
Mourning Dove  8
Black capped Chickadee  17
Red breasted Nuthatch  1
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Dark-eyed Junco  14
Northern Cardinal  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Tufted Titmouse  2
White breasted Nuthatch

11 Species
61 Individuals

Thanksgiving morning began with a Sharp-shinned Hawk stalking the yard, looking for an early meal.  Forgive me for the poor quality of the picture - I came downstairs, saw the hawk, picked up the camera and just started shooting.  Before I could adjust the settings, it had moved on.

 
Sharp-shinned Hawk

In late October, I wrote about the absence of squirrels in my yard.  Since then, 3 Red Squirrels have been around fairly regularly (a smaller number than usual) and Grey Squirrels remain absent altogether.

 
Red Squirrel

Our first American Tree Sparrow of the season visited the feeders on November 29.  This was pretty late; last year, tree sparrows returned in mid-October.  I always hope to witness the overlap of the American Tree Sparrow and the Chipping Sparrow - not a chance this year!!  This little guy had a very distinct center breast spot, which serves as a good identifying characteristic of the American Tree Sparrow.

 
American Tree Sparrow on WBU Catch-a-Seed Feeder Tray

Project FeederWatch Week Four was again marked by heavy (double digit) counts of chickadees, jays, and doves.  The tree sparrow seen just 2 days earlier did not show up on count days, but we did have a Ruffed Grouse walk through the corner of the yard!

 
Ruffed Grouse

Week Four Totals
Downy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  10
Black capped Chickadee  18
Mourning Dove  12
Tufted Titmouse  3
Dark-eyed Junco  9
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Cardinal  1
American Crow  1
Red breasted Nuthatch  1
White breasted Nuthatch  1
American Goldfinch  5
Ruffed Grouse  1

13 Species
64 Individuals

We have been hearing lots of reports of Pine Siskins in the area and thought we had a large flock move through about a week ago, but couldn't confirm it.  Then 2 siskins were seen hanging around with the goldfinches on December 5th. 

 
American Goldfinch flanked by Pine Siskins

It's easy to see a group of goldfinches and miss the siskins amongst them.  Stop to look for any streaked, pointy-billed birds, feeding or flocking right along with the goldfinches and you may find that you have Pine Siskins in your yard too!  Read more about Pine Siskins on WBU's rightbird online field guide.

Although my heated birdbath is a busy place all winter long, it is mostly visited by birds using it to drink.  But the other day, I saw a Blue Jay take a full-fledged, bone-soaking bath.  Here's a couple pix of the tidy bird.

 
 

The Hairy Woodpecker below was "frozen" on a tree for minutes on end.  I had heard the jays' alert calls, so I assume a hawk could've been passing through. I never saw the hawk, but whenever you see birds "frozen", or staying perfectly still for a long time (many minutes), look around to see if a hawk is near.  The birds I see exhibiting this behavior most frequently are woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, and titmice.  In my experience, jays and doves just skidaddle.

 
Hairy Woodpecker

In closing, I may be posting a little less between now and Christmas as I spend more time at my Wild Birds Unlimited store in Saratoga Springs NY.  If you're ever in the area, stop by to see us!  Just like reader/commenter Ellen (LNMP) who stopped by and introduced herself on her return trip from checking out the Snowy Owls in Fort Edward.  Thanks Ellen and nice to meet ya!

 
 

Comments

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Lana and Larry - sounds like the Ruffed Grouse is an enviable bird, huh? A few years ago we had 3, yes three, consecutively strike the windows and were killed. It was awful. Thankfully that hasn't happened again.
Larry, if you have any questions on heated baths, just LMK.

[Larry]

Wow! A Ruffed Grouse as a yardbird! My cement birdbath with a heater seems to be leaking this year.-Time for a new one-Do you know of a store that sells them? -just kidding.

[Lana]

Way cool on the ruffed grouse! I'm totally envious!

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Margaret - thanks much. Just couldn't resist the "poulty in motion" huh? I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday too!
Vickie - Thanks. I wish the sharpie was a little sharper. Yukyuk. Yards ARE a great place to see so much! And no gas, no warming the car, no crowds!
Tom - the chickadees are just crazy. Good thing they don't go through seed like the jays. Thanks for visiting.
Toni - I checked out your post - cool pix. I bet that's what it was.

[toni]

Woh Nancy now I'm wondering if that is what might have happened to the nuthatch in my yard. He froze hanging by a foot from my feeder upside down. I did have a hawk in the yard earlier. That was the weirdest thing I have seen looking at that nuthatch.

[Tom]

Looks like you have a very busy yard. Great to see that the siskins have arrived. With that many chickadees you must go through a lot of seed!

[Vickie]

Loved this post, Nancy. What a wonderful backyard report. I especially liked the junco photo and, of course, the snap of the sharpy before he moved on. Aren't yards great?

[Margaret]

Thanks, Nancy, as always for your informative posts and beautiful photos. (Love that grouse -- poultry in motion, if you'll pardon the expression!) :( On that note, I wish you a great holiday (and a great holiday to all your informative post-ers too!)