We've seen some new birds at our feeders these last 2 weeks, and some long time visitors that have come back into the area. The dark-eyed junco and the carolina wren have rediscovered the feeders. An eastern bluebird has been seen occassionally at the feeders, for which everyone is excited to see that bright blue color. Though don't expect to see them whenever you visit, they're come to the feeder rarely. Our house sparrow population has exploded and we're pleased to see we've been seeing more and more american goldfinches (like in the picture above) visiting the feeders. There has been quite a frenzy at the feeders - large flocks of house sparrows, fighting european starlings and of course our chubby squirrel.
This week we saw an interesting pattern, a carolina wren hopped up onto the bottom platform feeder, a place we typically see them. The little bird observed another bird on the hanging platform and when that bird left, the wren hopped up to that platform feeder. After eating there a bit, the wren observed another bird on the higher platform feeder and did the same thing again. It was cute to see it hop to a higher level platform each time. It was funny to watch.
We also had a squirrel trying to be sneaky in an attempt to get more peanuts. Skirting along the fence line, a few jumps at a time, pausing to see if anyone if watching and then finally a mad dash to the peanut feeder.
Counts:
Week 3: November 21-22 (14 species, 45 individuals)
american goldfinch 3
house sparrow 20
song sparrow 1
black-capped chickadee 3
eastern bluebird 1
house finch 1
blue jay 3
northern cardinal 2
white-throated sparrow 3
tufted titmouse 2
dark-eyed junco 1
european starling 3
downy woodpecker 1
carolina wren 1
Week 4: November 28-29 (13 species, 38 individuals)
black-capped chickadee 4
white-throated sparrow 2
tufted titmouse 2
blue jay 3
house sparrows 10
american goldfinch 4
downy woodpecker 1
song sparrow 2
european starling 5
dark-eyed junco 1
northern cardinal 2
white-breasted nuthatch 1
eastern bluebird 1