Through a Country Window Blog Post
Birdwatching
Winter 2015-2016
In winter I move inward, as most people do. I have brought
in my plants from the screened porch and arrayed them on, over and below the
bay window in the kitchen. I also have brought in my rocking chair from the
porch and plunked it in front of the bay window. From this spot I sit, often
with a cup of tea green tea and a journal, watching the birds at the feeders.
That is where the “window show” really is during winter.
There are pine trees between the window and the farm field
fence – some dead and bare, some full of green.
If I bend over and look to the left, I see the Hawthorn, then
the Persimmon tree. For some reason, and for the first time ever, the Hawthorn
produced no fruit. Normally, the birds go for the Hawthorn fruit, which is not
sweet, late in the winter.
It is among the live and dead pines that I hang the bird
feeders. I have some tube feeders, a couple of hopper feeders with suet cages
on the ends, a tray feeder held up by a hooked pole stuck in the ground, and a
little peanut butter feeder we made in a workshop, plus one thistle seed “sock.”
I am not a “birder”, as it is not my vocation or avocation to
go out seeking birds specifically, and I don't keep a “life list”, though I do
have a good pair of binoculars (selected according to the advice of some real
birder friends, from whom I have learned much.)
I am a “generalist” naturalist who knows more about plants
than anything else (probably because they stay in one place so details can be
examined), who is really into bugs, who has an utter fascination for fungi, and
who has a good background in the Earth Sciences. But, I'm really fascinated by,
and study, everything in Nature. The most important aspect to me is not any
particular subject or group of beings but how absolutely everything is
connected, all the movements together that make up the dance, all the workings
and how they work together – whether or not they are considered “sentient.”
So, I could not rightly be called a “birder” because too many
other things are grabbing my attention and it's all so consuming.
But, I do watch birds.
The winter feeders provide a prime opportunity to do so. I am
better able to identify and learn about individual species, since they come
closer and hang out in one spot a bit longer, and I can more easily observe
their interactions with each other and everything else.
It's a very nice thing to do while sipping tea in a rocking
chair with a blanket on one's lap on a cold winter day.
And, I do tend to make bird lists from watching the feeders.
Here is my list from the Winter of 2015-2016 (not including
Sparrows, which I list further down):
Mourning Dove Zenaida
macroura
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius
phoeniceus
European Starling Sturnus
vulgaris
Blue Jay Cyanocitta
cristata
Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-Headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
American Robin Turdus migratorius
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Male Cardinal and House Finch
House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
Goldfinch Carduelis tristis
Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis
Carolina Chickadee Poecile carolinensis
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
Tufted Titmouse
White-Breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis
Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens
Red-Bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius
I had seen the Sapsucker flitting around the pines and
Persimmon during early winter, before I had put out the feeders.
The Sparrows are the most vexing to sort out. There are a
variety with streaked or plain breasts, striped
or plain heads, and markings around eyes, mouth, neck, or no markings.
This is complicated by the variations with females and juveniles, as well as
the possible confusion with some other species (for example, a female House
Finch can be mistaken for a Sparrow.)
So, during the Winter of 2014-2015 I painstakingly made a
little guide to “Winter Sparrows”, for myself:
It was very helpful that winter. It was not helpful this
winter because I had forgotten where I put it and didn't find it until
mid-March. I think I will get it copied and laminated, then keep it with my
bird field guides.
Here are a few Sparrows from this winter:
White-Crowned Zonotrichia leucophrys
White-Throated Zonotrichia albicollis
English/House Passer domesticus
English, or House, Sparrow on far left
The latter is an alien species that tends to convene in large
groups, descend en masse on the feeders, clear them out quickly, and make a lot
of noise.
There were also:
Song Sparrows Melospiza melodia
Some other Sparrows that may have been there, since I did see
them the previous winter, are:
American Tree Spizella arborea
Field Spizella
pusilla
Fox Passerella iliaca
This is not to say I haven't seen some other kinds of birds
during other winters – and who knows what I've missed when I wasn't at the
window.
Male Cardinals, as we all know, look splendid against white
snow and green pine.
The females are not as brightly colored, but still lovely.
The ground below the feeders, especially when there was a
cover of snow, was very busy with the activity of an array of ground
feeders: Towhees, Robins, Mourning
Doves, and many Juncos, as well as Cardinals and various Sparrows.
Dark-eyed Junco
Mourning Dove
Goldfinches and House Finches love
the tube feeders …
Goldfinches at the tube feeder
… while Woodpeckers mostly go for the suet.
Female Downy Woodpecker
Male Downy Woodpecker
Red-Bellied Woodpeckers eat at the suet feeders, at the trees, and also take seeds from the tray
House Finches and Goldfinches
Female Downy Woodpecker and male Northern Cardinal
But, when the European Starling comes over, everyone else
leaves.
This male Starling was going after the suet cakes, sometimes
in an acrobatic manner:
Starlings would sometimes come in a raucous group to hog the
hanging tray feeder. But, when they weren't there, other birds shared nicely.
Tufted Titmouse (left) and Goldfinch
The tray feeder was also visited by Carolina Chickadees (who
seemed to be in constant motion between the feeders, the branches, the fence, etc.),
Red-Winged Blackbirds, Blue Jays (it can withstand the weight of the larger
birds) and, once in a while, a Carolina Wren.
White-breasted Nuthatches visit the feeders (especially for suet), but are more often seen scooting down the side of a tree trunk, searching the bark
Two Sparrows
Blue Jay
I have a special affinity for the Corvids. I love how they
move, how they fly in, how they suddenly drop down from one spot to another,
how they tilt their heads. I love their uncanny intelligence and their often
harsh-sounding voices.
Blue Jay
Common Grackle
As the winter wears down and spring starts to seep in, my
life becomes busier with gardens, woodlands and other things. As a result, I
tend to forget to refill the feeders. But, Spring came early this year, and
along with it the emerging bugs and buds. The birds are starting to find new
food in the wild after almost using up the seeds and berries that hung on and
sustained them all winter. And, the birds are busier with staking out claims,
trying to impress the females, and even gathering nesting materials.
Also, mammalian wildlife, such as Raccoons, Opossums and
Squirrels, become more active as spring arrives, some needing to feed more to
their early young or to their nursing selves. This means that I more often find
bird feeders emptied out, or knocked to the ground, or even set up sideways on
a tree limb. Sometimes I find them several yards from the feeding area. I still
have not found the cap to one of my tube feeders.
But, I'll probably fill feeders a few more times, even if it
is, as I write, late March.
Before long, we will declutter and scrub out the porch. We
will be having porch-sitting weather. Then my attentions, and this blog, will
be looking out the porch and other windows.
So long, for now, to winter and the bay window.
