It was beautiful out yesterday, a good day for a quick bit of birding along the pond trail. Saw some goldfinches – American and Lesser high in a leafless tree feasting on seeds. I watched them until they flew in brilliant yellow streaks across the sharpest of blue skies.
A few minutes later an accipiter flew overhead. He was almost gone before I even noticed him. Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned, I couldn’t tell and probably couldn’t even if I could have hit pause on life. Call him Stan. He was beautiful, quick and silent. He ducked and wove the air through the trees and was gone faster than a dream.
Probably heading to my house to eat the rest of the House Sparrows.
For Week 13 of Project FeederWatch, the Lesser Goldfinches decided to come around, which was especially exciting because they were a life bird for me, and my 10th for 2009. Goldfinches (Lesser and American) are both new to me and so I spent most of my feeder watching time this weekend watching them.
One of the best things about the Lesser Goldfinch is that they are permanent residents around here and so hopefully, they’ll keep coming to the feeder even after the Americans leave in the spring.
Lesser Goldfinch
The nyjer bag seems to be the big draw (thanks again to my sister and her family for giving it to me for Christmas) and so I hung the fancy nyjer feeder, which hasn’t drawn a single goldfinch in the 2 years I’ve had it, above the bag. The bag is still favored, but some of the American Goldfinches finally discovered it, and not a moment too soon as the nyjer bag was getting a bit crowded.
At one time I saw 4 American Goldfinches and 2 Lesser chowing down on the nyjer seed. A few House Finches even came by, but they were more interested in the nearby hummingbird feeder, which I put back out this weekend on the off chance of seeing an early hummer.
American and Lesser Goldfinch
The goldfinches are especially fun to watch because of their acrobatic nature: they seem as happy eating upside down as rightside up. The feeders are close to the window too, which makes photography sort of easy, but upon seeing these shots, I’m thinking I ought to clean the windows.
Other than the goldfinches, all of the usual suspects made appearances, the doves finally showing up just before dark on Sunday evening. At 16 species, this was my best count period for variety, though I’ve had higher numbers of individuals.
Two observations: Blue Jays only seem to come on Sundays. It is the only day of the week I’ve seen them the past few weeks. Doves are much scarcer than I thought they’d be. I knew the white-wing numbers decrease in the winter, but I never realized by how much.
I spend a lot of time birding the trail that runs parallel to our street down to the pond. I usually stop at the pond (the trail goes on and connects to an extensive network of trails) and on school days, I typically turn around and head home. It’s a short (maybe half-mile) walk from the door to the pond and back. I typically see a good variety of birds but never counted the species.
This year, starting with curiosity about what kinds of overwintering ducks are on the pond, I began listing the birds I saw and entering my counts into ebird. If I do this for an entire year, I should have a good sense of what birds pass through here and at what times of the year. I’m also curious as to how many species I can find within this short range from my house.
Call it my pond trail big year. Or maybe, it’ll be a small or medium year. I don’t know what to expect, but that’s part of the fun.
I’m not shooting for any specific number since I have no idea what all species are around here. I just want to see how many I see. I’ve already ID’d some life birds on the trail and hopefully a few more will pop up over the next 11 months so there’s that to look forward to also.
Most important, is the excuse to get outside, enjoy nature and watch the world do its thing. Not that I need an excuse for that.
Between friends being in town and an interminable fever/chills cycle, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time doing my Project FeederWatch counts this weekend, but I did observe some interesting things.
The Blue Jays are suddenly showing interest in the suet feeders again. They were all over them last summer, but lost interest when it got cold out. Now that it’s a bit warmer (or at least was on Sunday) they’re interested again.
A Red-bellied Woodpecker made an appearance this weekend. This is the first one I’ve seen in the yard and thus the first time he’s shown up in my counts. I wonder if the Golden-fronted Woodpecker that used to come by regularly last summer will be back around soon.
The House Finches are coming around a bit more regularly. Probably looking for the hummingbird feeder, which I may put back up this week. After reading Dave Bonta’s haunting and beautiful “House Finch,” I checked for eye disease on them and the goldfinches, but fortunately found none. I keep my feeders clean and thus far have been fortunate not to have seen any infected finches, which you’re asked to report to PFW if you see it.
Cardinals seem to enjoy coming around every day except my count days. Perhaps they had all headed down to Florida for the Super Bowl.
After deleting the fever birds (you know, the penguin and the albatross I saw), I got this count:
Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
House Finch (2)
White-winged Dove (8)
American Goldfinch (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
Chipping Sparrow (3)
Carolina Wren (2)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
Mourning Dove (1)
Black-crested Titmouse (1)
Blue Jay (2)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Not many individuals, but a good variety of species.
Fog silences everything on the way down to the pond. The trees hold still, making way for the muted quacks from the ducks farther down.
I watch a flock of Blue Jays descend on a tree, screeching at something. I don’t see any owls or hawks, and eventually they leave, their work finished.
A Great Blue Heron watching the pond
Above the trail, I notice a Great Blue Heron, solitary and watchful. My eyes drift from him to the shapes of the ducks drifting through the fog. One tree over, a Red-bellied Woodpecker squawks at the heron. I’ve never seen a Red-bellied Woodpecker in the neighborhood so I study him through the binoculars, his red nape leaping out of the surrounding gray.
I make a note in my bird book and watch him watch the heron, until, having had enough, the heron jumps off the tree and slowly flies up the creek back toward the bridge.
The trail disappears in both directions, and I walk back toward home, stopping along the way to admire the texture of some broken trunks. What happened to shear off these branches and leave the gaps in the trees? Was it sudden like lightning or just the slow erosion of time?
I can hear birds chirping in the reeds, but they’re not to be seen. The fog diffuses the sound and their voices could be coming from anywhere.
A gentle fog and
brief graying of the familiar
renders the world new
I’d like to say I just did a half-assed count this week because I wanted to see how many birds I’d see if I didn’t really try, which might help me determine which of my backyard birds are more casual and which require more looking, but that wouldn’t be true. I just did a half-assed count. Still, I was surprised that I saw so many species. I didn’t see very many individuals, though.
The only unusual bird was the Ladder-backed Woodpecker who made his second appearance in my counts. They’re not really that unusual around here; I just don’t see them in the yard very often.
In the past few days, I’ve identified several new birds for my life list: Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Greater Yellowlegs, and American Kestrel. I’ve also gotten my first look at an Eastern Screech Owl. Pretty good start for the new year, there.
When I ID a new bird, I like to learn a little bit about its behavior. I have two good books for this: The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior and The Behavior of Texas Birds, both of which I recommend. I never seem to lose interest in these secret little lives going on all around.
The really funny thing about IDing a new bird is that once I’ve figured out the bird and how to see it, I start seeing it even more frequently. Sometimes it appears as though they are everywhere. Where were all these birds the last time I came here? I wonder.
They were there, of course. I just didn’t know to distinguish them, know how to see them. There is an aspect to birding that creates an awareness of any given moment that is easy to lose when thoughts center on other places and times than the here and now.
Seeing a new bird for the first time reminds me of that most important thought: be here now.
When I went down to the pond on New Year’s Day, I saw several Ruby-crowned Kinglets flitting about in the trees. I doubt they just arrived. More likely than not, they’ve been there all along, at least at this time of year. The thing that’s different is that since seeing that one in the backyard, now I notice them instead of my brain just processing small grayish bird and moving on.
My aunt has a friend whose owl house has a resident. He’s an Eastern Screech Owl whom she calls Ollie.
My aunt arranged for me to come by and have a look at him, and so on Friday, I got to meet my first owl. He sat in his box, seemingly ignoring everything going on around him, but as I watched through my lens, it was clear he was aware of us, whether or not he cared.
I took a bunch of pictures, but this one is my favorite since he actually appears to be looking back at me. Aside from the eyes, those talons poking out from beneath his feathers keep drawing my attention. I wouldn’t want to be a small critter on the business end of those.
Until Friday, the only owl I had ever seen flew like a ghost over our driveway about 15 years ago. Ghostlike mainly because after it was gone, it was hard to believe I’d even seen it. It was nice to get a chance to really see and watch one finally.
He’s got me thinking too. The screech owl house I put up two years ago never drew any owls. I took it down when it drew rats but after seeing Ollie, maybe I’ll try another tree.
I didn’t have any new birds show up in my Project FeederWatch count this week, but I did get the highest number of different species and the highest counts so far.
The American Goldfinch and Ruby-crowned Kinglet both brought friends, and I saw a House Finch for the first time in several weeks. The Chipping Sparrows edged out the House Sparrows for greatest number of individuals seen thus far. Other than that, it was the usual suspects doing the usual things.
The count for a crisp and pleasant weekend:
House Sparrow (7)
Black-crested Titmouse (3)
Carolina Wren (2)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
Chipping Sparrow (24)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
Northern Cardinal (1)
House Finch (1)
American Goldfinch (2)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Blue Jay (1)
White-winged Dove (3)
Mourning Dove (1)
I’m hoping the goldfinch will continue and that they turn gold before they migrate since I’ve never seen one in the gold plumage.
When you grow up with the Navy, you get used to certain things, particularly salty air and the cries of gulls. Things not easily come by during a typical day in central Texas. Thank goodness for the Ring-billed Gulls, then, that come to the lake near our house every winter.
My gull fix is only a short bike ride away, even if I drove the other day.
I ignored the other birds, ignored everything, focused on the mass of white specks floating on the sparkling water.
flash of white
against the blue
plunges into cold
I can watch gulls for hours. I love the way they fly, so graceful. Lazy one minute, and diving for a meal the next.
Watching gulls is watching wind come alive.
wind takes form
substance, shape
a gull streaks across
memory
Cold air riders come to spend another central Texas inland winter, they bob on the surface, cry and take flight.
The wind pushes them around a bit, but it’s all for show.
They are in control.
a cry, a soaring gull
comes up with lunch
i come back for more
