The Zen Birdfeeder

More Young'ens

Here's more of the young birds in our yard, a mix of fledglings (have left the nest but are still not independent) and immature birds (no longer dependent on parents).

Mourning Dove - note the light edging of the feathers.
 

Downy and Hairy Woodpecker males - red is on the top of the head versus the back. The young females are a little harder - they are just fresher- and cleaner-looking than frazzled mom. 
 
 

Dark-eyed Junco - streaked appearance versus solid grey
 
 

Red-breasted Nuthatch - junior is on the left.  A little shorter bill, and newer, neater appearance (raising kids is tough on the adults!)
 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak - there's the start of that beautiful rosy breast!
 

Fledgling Identification Tips

My yard is FILLED with Blue Jay fledglings! Each day as these young birds become more independent, they seem to be replaced with more youngsters just emerging from the nest.
 
 

With so many young jays around, it's a good time to look for the things that help us identify fledgling birds. (Click on any image to enlarge to see greater detail).

Watch for wing quiver behavior as they beg for food.
 
 

Their landings are sometimes clumsy and they'll stumble on to perches.
 
 
 
Listen for whiny, squeally calls that come from one area for a period of time.
 

Their plumage appears softer and more "downy-like" than the adult.
 

Their beak is a bit shorter too.
 
 

They learn to preen their downy-type feathers.
 

Look for a soft, fleshy part at the edges of their beak.
 
 
 

Watch for baby jays!
 

Read "Backyard Mystery Birds" for more hints on identifying juvenile birds.

Earning My Birds Back

As you could probably tell by the infrequency of posts in June, I was really busy all last month.  Besides a 1-day trip to Saranac Lake NY for the Adirondack Birding Celebration, I was also gone 4 days mid-month in Illinois, back home, then gone for 8 days in Indiana.  When we returned from Indy, every feeder in the yard was empty and the bird activity was slow.  I had to EARN my birds back.

I filled the hummingbird feeders and added one more, and the hummingbirds came back very quickly. 3-4 have been very competitive at the feeders and adding more feeders can help break that up a little.
 
 

Purple Finches returned when the safflower was put back in the tube feeder.  Isn't he beautiful?  If only the darn chipmunks didn't eat the stuff too...ggggrrrr.
  

It didn't take long for the Blue Jays and Mourning Doves - adults and young - to return when I refilled the hopper feeders. And there was still a smidgen of niger left in the finch feeders to take care of the goldfinches during my absence.

Luring the woodpeckers back took a little while longer.  The suet logs were picked clean and the seed cylinder was long gone.  The hairies had fledged their young before I left, but the downy young were still in the nest. While I was gone, the downies fledged and they now share time on the suet log feeders.
 
 

It took a couple days for the 3 male and 2 female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks to return.  They have since fledged their young.
 

Things seem almost back to normal.  And I promise to return to more "normal" bird posting activity (if work doesn't get in the way!)  It's so nice to get back behind the camera!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Whose nest is this?
How many nestlings do you see? (click on image to enlarge)

Photo courtesy of WBU-Saratoga Springs customer Rita S.  Thank you Rita!

Courtship Time for Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks returned this year on May 4, a full week earlier than 2007. A female returned first; a number of males appeared the following day.  (Click on images to enlarge.  Images 1, 2, and 6 were digiscoped.)
 

There have been numerous rose-breasteds at the feeders since then. When observing the males, note the red pattern on their breast - the shape and pattern of red varies from bird to bird. With good powers of observation, you can use this to identify individual birds.

For about the first week following their return, there wasn't a lot of singing going on. That changed this week. Both male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have started singing like crazy.

Their song has been called "a robin with singing lessons".  Stokes Nature Guides to Bird Behavior describes it as "a robin in a hurry". The other day, one was repetitively singing "Blame it on the bossa nova." I haven't heard that song in years!

Now is the perfect time to listen for their sing-songy, rising and falling, up and down song. You can also hear their characteristic metallic-sounding "chink" call.

Grosbeak courtship and nest-building activities are now in progress here in upstate New York. I'm looking forward to seeing young grosbeaks, like this fledgling that landed on the deck and visited our birdbath a couple summers ago.

 

Fortunately, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are frequent feeder visitors. They prefer tray feeders or hopper feeders with generous perching areas.  Fill feeders with a quality seed blend like WBU Supreme, which has black oil sunflower, safflower, sunflower chips, and striped sunflower.

They also enjoy seed cylinders; this one is the WBU Supreme seed cylinder (same stuff as in the loose seed blend). Here a pair share a meal on a cool seed cylinder feeder.

Enjoy your Rose-breasted Grosbeaks this season!
 

Window Strikes

A Bluejay hit one of our windows a couple days ago. I had heard a glancing strike not long before, so the window reflections at that time of day must have been especially confusing to the birds.

It seems like the number of window strikes peaks this time of year. Why do birds fly into windows?  First of all, birds can't see the glass, especially when the sky or nearby trees are reflected.

There are still young birds around learning the ropes and unfortunately, many times it's the inexperienced birds that fall victim to window strikes.  Birds also strike windows as they quickly try to escape predators, hitting glass in a moment of panic.  And during spring and fall migration, window strikes increase as birds unfamiliar with the area pass through.

Window strikes are hard to TOTALLY eliminate, but there are ways to reduce them and/or reduce their severity:

• Locate feeders and birdbaths about 20-30 feet from windows so birds have time to change direction or within 1-2 feet of them so they can't gather enough speed to cause significant injury.
• Window screens will reduce injury even if a bird flies into it.  Use them where practical.
• Decals placed on windows can help reduce or prevent window strikes when placed on the outside of windows. It takes multiple decals on the window surface; one stuck in the middle won't make a difference. 
• Mylar reflective strips hanging loose in from of the window will move in the breeze and alert birds flying too close to a window. 
• After losing a migrating Hermit Thrush last fall to a window strike, we added Feather Guards to our large, fixed windows. This is a string of colorful feathers tied on a 6 foot length of fishing line.  Suction cups hold it in place.  Having the Feather Guards in place has significantly decreased - though not 100% eliminated - fatal window strikes on these windows.

After the jay struck, I righted him and he stood on his own.

He blinked slowly and held his mouth open, called gaping. He held one wing lower than the other. There was no bleeding.  I spent many minutes observing, encouraging him verbally (obviously for my benefit alone), and taking some photos as he gathered his wits.  The blinking behavior stopped though he maintained the gape until the time he flew off.  He had a little trouble getting lift to clear the greenhouse; I heard his wings clip the roof as he flew off.

I checked the other side of the greenhouse - he had cleared it and was nowhere to be found.  I'll never know how he faired, but I wish him well.
 

You can read more about window strikes and download a brochure at the WBU Educational Resources site.

More Goldfinch Young

The sound of young goldfinches was loud and coming from the backyard, so I headed to the balcony with camera in hand.

Here's the culprit, wings drooping a little.  And in full wing quiver mode.

Then I was lucky enough to get this video of baby getting some good quality feeding time with dad.

What a joy to witness!

American Goldfinch Fledgling Call

Listen to the call of an American Goldfinch fledgling.

Still Keep an Eye out for Young Birds

As we near the end of summer, keep looking as there are still plenty of youngsters around.  Here's some immature birds that visited my yard recently:

Young hummingbirds (notice the faint lines on the throat of this immature male on a Parasol feeder)

Young Mourning Dove (the wing and breast feathers are edged in a buff color and they lack the black spot near the eye).

Young male Rose breasted Grosbeak enjoying safflower seed (some pink on chest, red wing linings, brownish tail and wings, some brown body feathers).

Young Evening Grosbeak (like the female, mostly gray and lightly washed with yellow, with black wings and tails touched with white and pale yellow).

And yesterday, I spotted my first young American Goldfinch of the season.  Goldfinches are late nesters! 

Besides its persistent fledgling call, described by Stokes Nature Guides as "chipee, chipee", this young bird exhibited wing quiver behavior and tended to hold its wings in a lower position.  Listen for the fledgling call; once the goldfinch young are independent, you won't hear it for another year!

A Little Hummingbird TLC

There's always a lot of squabbling that goes on at our hummingbird feeders and this morning's interactions all seemed pretty normal.  I commented about the good activity at the feeders and for some reason, went outside to check the area where a lot of the hummingbird disputes were taking place.

There on the ground lay a stunned hummingbird.  He was still alive, thank heavens, but pretty out of it.  No sign of broken wings, beak intact, no blood - all good signs.
 

While he recuperated, we had him sign some release forms for the ensuing photo session.

The faint streaking on the throat identifies this as a juvenile male.  Hummingbirds have started migration with adult males leading the charge.  Come to think of it, I haven't seen an adult male in a couple of days.

Bird banding studies have determined that there is a steady wave of hummingbirds that visit your feeders and flowers during migration.  The hummingbirds you see on Friday will be totally different hummingbirds then you saw on Monday.

After sitting for a few moments, our hummingbird took off, only to fly in a small circle around us, get hounded by another hummer, then land back on the house.  (That's a bit of spider web in the photo).  We offered him nectar, which he didn't take, but he did perch on a finger again, only to soon take off to a nearby tree.

I hope he's a little more cautious on the remainder of his journey south!