Category: Nature

I was very curious about what my Project FeederWatch count would reveal for week 7 because of the hawk I saw sitting in the tree above the feeder on Christmas morning. It was an accipiter, either a Cooper’s Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk. The two are very similar in appearance, though the Cooper’s is slightly larger. This one looked a little bigger than a Blue Jay, so I’d bet on Sharp-shinned if I was forced to make a call.

He had some unlucky something in his talons, and he flew off when he saw the dogs. He flew to a neighbor’s tree, prompting an outcry from some Blue Jays that seemed to chase him off. I didn’t see another sparrow in my yard until yesterday, and I wondered which birds if any would show up for my Sat/Sun counts.

As it turned out, most of the usual suspects came by including a second chickadee so my chickadee count is now up to two. A Mourning Dove also stopped by on Saturday evening so I did get to add a new bird to my count list. Only one sparrow, though, and not a single House Sparrow. I guess the sparrows also know that accipiters are sometimes known as sparrowhawks.

I haven’t seen him back either, which is good. I love birds of prey as much as the next person, but I really don’t want my feeders to become a songbird buffet for the local hawks.

And now, drum roll please, the count:

• Carolina Wren (2)
• Carolina Chickadee (2)
• Bewick’s Wren (1)
• Black-crested Titmouse (3)
• White-winged Dove (6)
• Blue Jay (2)
• Chipping Sparrow (1)
• Mourning Dove (1)
• Northern Mockingbird (1)

Week 6 of Project FeederWatch began warm, overcast and muggy. A gloomy day good for staying in, which is likely what the birds thought since I only saw 2 sparrows, a cardinal and a dove.

I was getting bored until evening when I saw a mockingbird check out the suet feeder. I hadn’t seen a mocker in a few weeks and never one at the suet feeder. He inspected it for a while and then seemed to be working out how to get the suet. He finally figured it out, though, and now I wonder if he will claim it as his considering how territorial they can be.

An Arctic front blew in Sunday morning and that brought the birds out. After filling the feeders, a cardinal was already on the platform feeder before I reached the door. A female cardinal also came by, giving me 2 cardinals in my weekly count for the first time. I pulled out the binoculars to watch them and saw that the male seemed to be standing on both feet so I don’t know if this is a new Mr. Cardinal or if the crippled one is now back to fighting form.

The mockingbird was back on Sunday working the suet feeder, and I saw a couple of wrens digging around in the piles of leaves by the fence posts.

Sunday turned into a great day for watching the feeder birds from inside the house.

Here’s the official count:

• Chipping Sparrow (5)
• House Sparrow (5)
• White-winged Dove (6)
• Northern Mockingbird (1)
• Northern Cardinal (2)
• Bewick’s Wren (1)
• Carolina Wren (2)
• Black-crested Titmouse (3)
• Carolina Chickadee (1)

I’ve also added a count to the left sidebar that shows all the birds I’ve counted during Project FeederWatch and the greatest number of individuals counted at one time. I’ll try to keep that updated through April.

This was a busy weekend and so I only got to watch the feeders for a few minutes at a stretch, mostly as I was passing by the windows.

If squirrels were birds, I’d have a pretty high count this time, but since they’re not, I didn’t see very many and nothing unusual.

The count for Week 5:

• Carolina Wren (1)
• Carolina Chickadee (1)
• Black-crested Titmouse (1)
• Bewick’s Wren (1)
• White-winged Dove (1)
• Northern Cardinal (1)
• House Finch (2)
• House Sparrow (3)
• Chipping Sparrow (4)

The only noteworthy thing is that I finally saw the female cardinal again for the first time in months. She and the crippled Mr. Cardinal were foraging below the platform feeder earlier in the week, but, alas, I did not see her on my count days, the only cardinal then being Mr. Cardinal.

The weather was mostly overcast, warm and humid. A front came through last night so now it’s in the thirties.

I do love Texas weather.

Since we left town for a quick trip to Orange, my feederwatching only lasted about an hour or so on Saturday morning before we left. Still, I saw a good variety if not large numbers:

• Bewick’s Wren (1)
• Chipping Sparrows (2)
• Northern Mockingbirds (2)
• Carolina Wren (1)
• Black-crested Titmouse (1)
• House Sparrows (4)
• Blue Jay (1)
• White-winged Dove (1)

The weather was cool (low 50s) and the sky was overcast. No rain.