Sometimes the most interesting visitors come by night. I usually bring the feeder in after dark, but some nights the possum beats me to it. Phoebe discovered him up there and despite her best efforts throwing herself into the air, she couldn’t get him so no possum stew for the pups.
This was the last week of counting for Project FeederWatch, and the hummingbirds finally showed up. When I looked out the window on Saturday morning a very fluffy looking Black-chinned Hummingbird was huddled on one of the hanging flowerpots near the hummingbird feeder. He occasionally would drink and then go back to perch. When the sun finally came up, he buzzed over to a tree and watched the feeder, diligently chasing away any other hummer that happened to come near.
Here’s my last count for the 2008-2009 FeederWatch Season:
- White-winged Dove (12)
- Mourning Dove (1)
- Black-chinned Hummingbird (2)
- Blue Jay (1)
- Carolina Chickadee (1)
- Black-crested Titmouse (1)
- Carolina Wren (1)
- Bewick’s Wren (2)
- Northern Mockingbird (1)
- Chipping Sparrow (5)
- Northern Cardinal (1)
- Common Grackle (5)
- House Finch (4)
- Lesser Goldfinch (3)
- House Sparrow (4)
Tomorrow, I’ll do a post about what I learned about my backyard from participating in Project FeederWatch.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
Yay, hummingbirds! Ours should be coming back soon, too. Guess I should get that sugar water ready. I definitely go through more sugar in the summer than any other time of year!
I’ll look forward to your “report” about your Feederwatch experience. This was your first year participating, right? I’m thinking about doing a “wrap-up” post myself… haven’t got it quite together in my mind yet, though.
I always love seeing lists of birds in places far away, just reading the names sounds so exotic…
Crafty Green Poet, I do too. It really gets the imagination going.
Heather, I’ll look forward to seeing your wrap-up. Mine didn’t get done today. Soon.
That is a truly awesome possum picture!
Nice picture! We had one of these guys on our deck last night munching on birdseed spilled from our feeder. Drove our dog nuts when we wouldn’t let her out.
It drives our pups crazy too. They try to jump at the possum and he just watched from inches out of reach.