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The birds are back!

16 years ago

We don't get a lot of variety of birds but this year is different. A few months ago I noticed we were getting blackbirds. At first I thought they were red winged but when I looked through the binoculars, I saw that they were in fact tri color blackbirds. The number of tri color has dwindled since the red winged came but there are still some around. Since then we've had meadow larks, bobolinks, white crowned sparrows. I had to look up the tri color blackbirds and sparrows to positively i.d. them. It's really nice to have the variety. Marg

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Comments (2)

donald lucius
16 years ago
this has been a weird year here because of the weather mostly. Last summer and fall were windy and hot and extremely dry and we had drought and some fires. But winter was cold and snowy and above average snow and
lot of winter birds especially juncos and chickadees and nuthatches. This spring had been colder and later than usual with it still freezing at night a lot. Just a few orioles and hummingbirds and a couple of grosbeaks have showed up. And a lot of the redwing blackbirds. The juncos and chickadees normally head for thr forests in early april to nest but they are still here this year up into may. The woodpeckers have all abandoned me except a pair of Lewis's woodpeckers who are nesting close by and taking turns coming to eat. none of the usual scrub jays around
and a few magpies in and out. Hear an owl hooting in the morning and sometimes after dark. Has been windy everyday the last week or so and not a lot of birds to see. Oh one little juniper titmouse has been around every day and a few house finches. too early and cool this year to plant any flowers or sunflowers for the birds.
rachel_frome_ky
16 years ago
So wonderful to have all those western birds..
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The bird count was going on this week-end,unfortunately I don't know my birds except the obvious...cardinals,robins,blue jays,cranes,crows,the sea gulls are always around. My sister and I stood outside and watched quite a few we didn't know. These very small brown ones always build nests right in the windows or in odd places,one day I'll get a book on birds! lol in the meantime,we always set out birdseed and water and enjoy them no matter what their name is. The weather is trying to stay nice,but this cold is still here for now. Have a Great Day!
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The red breasted bluebirds are back! It seems way too early for them to be here. They stay until spring. Hubby also saw a yellow breasted bird. Sorry no photo. We never did figure out what they were. We are from up north. They kinda look like gold finches, but not as much yellow.
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i;m hoping the other birds slow down in eating now, all winter, i've gone thru 200 pounds of sunflower seeds a week!--and still putting it out. i have 10 bluebird houses out too, and most of them have blue birds. when we sit on the back deck, the bluebirds are twittering and singing constantly.hate to hear of someone shooting at the birds, our golden eagles occupy a lot of our leisure time too.need i say i love my animals--and birds?
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Hi Linda: I never thought of pesticides. Come to think of it I have not seen a ground hog, skunk, or racoon lately either. The ground hogs always attacked my swiss chard, and ate the apples which dropped from my tree. There are definitely no pesticides on my property and the neighbours on either side have small kids and work so they just plunk in a few annuals from the nursery each year. We live in the suburbs and there are a few farms nearby: mostly corn and strawberries. However, they have recently been bought out by a larger outfit and I wonder about their methods. I commented to neighbours recently that you don't see any worms in the corn, which were present when 'old Henry' ran the farm organically. I must investigate this more fully. I definitely have fewer bees, and I have seen several yellow jackets rather slow moving and listless. I get some butterflies attracted to my Blue Fortune, but that's about it. It really is sad. I must make an effort to check other parts of the neighbourhood. Thanks for your ideas.
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