What I Learned about My Backyard from Project FeederWatch

Project FeederWatch ended last weekend. For those just tuning in, PFW is a citizen science project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The idea is that you commit to keeping a record of all the birds that visit your feeders, birdbaths, birdhouses, and landscape features from November to April. In addition to being a part of something that helps scientists learn about and help birds, participants have the opportunity to learn a surprising amount about what goes on right outside their doors.

This is a summary of some interesting things I learned.

Observations about Specific Birds:

Wrens:

We get both Carolina and Bewick’s Wrens at our house. They both like suet and mealworms, but the Carolina Wrens will also take seeds from the cake feeders. Carolina Wrens also seem to be more willing to poke around the ground in the flowerbed, while Bewick’s Wrens prefer scouring the trees and plants for bugs. Carolinas also seems to be much more vocal; every morning, I can expect one singing (surprisingly loud) from the fence.

Hawks:

On several occasions, on count days and non-count days, I saw unidentifiable accipiter hawks swooping through the yard. On one occasion, I got some pictures of one sitting by the neighbor’s feeder and on another day, I saw one sitting by my feeder. I never got a good enough look to ID any of the ones I saw on count days, but readers of this blog thought the one I photographed was a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

I assume he’s been eating sparrows since those are the only birds whose counts have been lower than I expected them to be. The wrens, titmice, chickadees, and finches all seem to show up in basically the same numbers each week so I suspect they’re avoiding the hawks.

Goldfinches:

I was thrilled to see goldfinches show up in my yard at long last. I have my sister to thank. She got me some nyjer bags for Christmas, and the goldfinches arrived withing days of putting them out.

Lesser Goldfinches will only take nyjer seed from the bags, while American Goldfinches who seem to prefer the nyjer bags, will use the tube feeder when the bags are crowded.

I had hoped to see the American Goldfinches in breeding plumage, but they seem to have mostly left, although I did see one this weekend in transitional plumage. I hope he sticks around so I can see him in his full golden glory.

Blue Jays:

Through most of the winter, the Blue jays came around only for the peanuts. As things warmed up, and nesting season began, they started taking suet again, which they didn’t touch during winter, ceding it instead to the wrens, titmice, kinglets, warblers, and mockingbirds. They also come around more and more for the regular seeds, but the peanuts are still the favorite.

Cardinals:

(no pictures. try back next year)

During the fall and winter, the cardinals only come around in the very early hours before dawn and the dusky hour between sunset and dark. During spring and summer they come around the feeders at all times of the day.

Doves:

White-winged Doves are the most prevalent and obvious birds at our platform feeder during spring and summer, but through fall and winter, there are substantially fewer and the Mourning Doves come around a bit more frequently.

Mockingbirds:

The mockingbirds come regularly for suet in the winter, but lose all interest in it when it gets warmer out. There is a pair nesting in the neighbor’s cedar tree, but their only interest in my yard now is the birdbath.

Titmice:

The Black-crested Titmice are almost always the first ones to check out a new feeder, and often the first ones to the worms in the morning, thus earning them the nickname Pigmice. They’re still my favorites, though.

Every morning in winter, one or two would burst from the wren box and start scolding me from a nearby tree until I had the worms out. Now that it’s warmer, they’ve left the box for the wrens and are nesting elsewhere, but they’re still first in line at the worm feeder most mornings.

And, now, some lists…

The Visitors:

The numbers are the highest numbers of individuals seen at one time.

1. White-winged Dove (25)
2. Chipping Sparrow (24)
3. House Sparrow (20)
4. American Goldfinch (8)
5. Common Grackle (8)
6. House Finch (5)
7. Northern Mockingbird (4)
8. Brown-headed Cowbird (4)
9. Black-crested Titmouse (3)
10. Mourning Dove (3)
11. Carolina Chickadee (3)
12. European Starling (3)
13. Blue Jay (3)
14. Lesser Goldfinch (3)
15. Bewick’s Wren (2)
16. Carolina Wren (2)
17. Northern Cardinal (2)
18. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
19. Red-bellied Woodpecker (2)
20. Black-chinned Hummingbird (2)
21. Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
22. Ladder-backed Woodpecker (1)
23. Accipiter sp. (1)
24. American Robin (1)
25. Red-winged Blackbird (1)
26. Song Sparrow (1)

The Permanent Collection:

These are the birds that appeared in all 20 counts.

• White-winged Dove
• Carolina Chickadee
• Black-crested Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• Bewick’s Wren
• Chipping Sparrow

All of these are permanent residents except the Chipping Sparrows. They will depart for points north in the next week or so, and return in October. If past years are any guide, we will see flocks of 60-70 in the yard for a day or 2 and then they will be gone.

House Sparrow only missed one week (Dec 27), which was incidentally, the first time I saw an accipiter hawk. Smart sparrows.

Passing Through:

Birds that came for a distinct span of time and then left.

• Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1.3.09 – 2.7.09)
• American Robin (2.28.09 – 3.14.09)
• Orange-crowned Warbler (1.3.09 – 3.14.09)
• Red-winged Blackbird (3.7.09 – 3.14.09)

I’ll be curious to see if these species come around these times next year.

Sometimes Birds:

Birds that are here year-round. They don’t come by the yard very often, but were kind enough to stop by on at least one count day.

• Accipiter sp (Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s Hawk)
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Ladder-backed Woodpecker
• Red-winged Blackbird
• European Starling

Spring/Summer Birds:

These are the birds that hang around the yard only during spring and summer along with their arrival dates.

• American Robin (2.21)
• Common Grackle (3.07)
• Black-chinned Hummingbird (3.21)

Biggest Flocks:

These are the largest groups of individuals seen at one time.

• White-winged Dove (25 on 3.14.09)
• Chipping Sparrow (24 on 1.17.09)
• House Sparrow (20 on 12.06.08)
• American Goldfinch (8 on 02.21.09)
• Common Grackle (8 on 03.07.09 & 03.21.09)

Life Birds:

These are the birds I had never seen and saw for the first time as a result of paying closer attention to the feeders.

• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Orange-crowned Warbler
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Lesser Goldfinch
• Accipter sp. (probably Sharp-shinned Hawk)

Non-avian Feeder Visitors:

• Fox Squirrel
• Virginia Opossum

Project FeederWatch was a fun and eye-opening experience. I intend to continue counting birds and uploading my counts to ebird for the rest of 2009, and I will definitely be participating again next year.

James Brush

James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.

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