The birds and I pulled double duty this weekend as we were counting and being counted for both Project FeederWatch and The Great Backyard Bird Count. The two projects have slightly different rules, mainly in that PFW requires 1 count for 2 days while GBBC has separate counts for each day. Also, PFW counts should only include birds that come to the yard for things I provided (food, shelter, water, landscaping), whereas GBBC includes any birds seen in the count area, so I included the robins and crow I saw hanging out in the neighbors’ trees.
Mainly, I saw the usual suspects, although a raptor did fly low over the feeders on Saturday. It’s the second time I’ve seen one in the yard since December, but unless he’s eating House Sparrows, he’s not having much success as my counts haven’t changed much lately.
What kind of raptor? He moved faster than any bird I’ve ever seen so I didn’t get a great look at his markings. His wings were sharply pointed, his long tail wasn’t fanned out, and when he reached the neighbor’s house he did an abrupt rolling turn and was gone. Speed and pointed wings.
I immediately assumed him to be an accipiter, either a Cooper’s Hawk or a Sharp-shinned. These two are hard to distinguish, but I went to the guidebooks and searched online to see if I could do it. None of the pictures really looked like the bird I had seen. The wings were too pointed for one thing and the brief glimpse I got of his underside just didn’t look like the pictures. After flipping through to the falcon section, I saw a picture of a Merlin. That was my bird.
I read up on Merlins and found they do occasionally visit bird feeders, flying low and fast to grab prey on the wing. I also found this chart showing shapes of raptors in flight.
This brings up another issue. While I don’t begrudge birds of prey their meals, I don’t like the idea of my feeders becoming a buffet for all the local raptors. I’ll have to keep watch and see if the Merlin becomes a regular visitor. If so, I’ll bring the feeders in for a while.
Other than that, the only interesting thing about the weekend was the moment when I looked out an hour or so before the Merlin flyby and saw the feeders full of birds, each one holding perfectly still like little statues as if time had stopped in the backyard. I guess they saw the Merlin before I did.
I’m happy to report that American Goldfinches are continuing to bring friends and a few of them are starting to show traces of their gold breeding plumage.
Project FeederWatch Week 14:
- American Goldfinch (7)
- Black-crested Titmouse(2)
- Carolina Chickadee (2)
- House Finch (2)
- Chipping Sparrow (20)
- Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
- House Sparrow (2)
- White-winged Dove (9)
- Carolina Wren (2)
- Bewick’s Wren (2)
- Mourning Dove (1)
- Lesser Goldfinch (1)
- Merlin (1)
- Northern Cardinal (2)
Great Backyard Bird Count Day 2 (Saturday):
- American Goldfinch (6)
- Black-crested Titmouse(1)
- Carolina Chickadee (2)
- House Finch (2)
- Chipping Sparrow (18)
- Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
- House Sparrow (2)
- White-winged Dove (6)
- Carolina Wren (2)
- Bewick’s Wren (1)
- Mourning Dove (1)
- Lesser Goldfinch (1)
- Merlin (1)
- Northern Cardinal (2)
Great Backyard Bird Count Day 3 (Sunday):
- American Goldfinch (7)
- Black-crested Titmouse(2)
- Carolina Chickadee (1)
- House Finch (2)
- Chipping Sparrow (20)
- Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
- House Sparrow (4)
- White-winged Dove (9)
- Carolina Wren (2)
- Bewick’s Wren (2)
- Mourning Dove (1)
- Lesser Goldfinch (1)
- Northern Cardinal (1)
- Blue Jay (1)
- American Crow (1)
- American Robin (2)
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I’m glad to hear the Goldfinches are sticking around! Wow, you have a lot of Chipping Sparrows. We get lots of different sparrows in the winter too, but not quite that many. Glad you were able to ID your Merlin – that’s pretty cool.