In vain, it turned out, since the chickadees and titmice had gone to cover before he landed. It was noteworthy, though, since I hadn't seen a raptor in the yard since a kestrel alighted on our forsythias a couple years ago.
The array of birds at our feeders is pretty limited. Of course, so is the menu. We put out black oil sunflower seeds and thistle seeds. Goldfinches come to the thistles (many fewer this year than in previous ones, for some reason), and the sunflower seeds draw chickadees, english sparrows, house finches, cardinals, blue jays, titmice, and white and red breasted nuthatches. A pretty standard winter population, in my experience, except for the red-breasted nuthatches. I'd never seen one before we moved to Ann Arbor. Around our place, they're as common as titmice, but still seem like a novelty. Downy woodpeckers occasionally show up in the yard, but don't come to the feeder. When we lived in Lansing, we had lots of downies on the sunflower seeds. I shouldn't forget the juncos that hang out under the feeder to glean what the rest of the birds knock off.
I can watch birds at the feeder for half an hour, easily. Funny how I've watched the same birds doing pretty much the same thing for most of my life, but still find them engrossing.
Tags:Birds; Nature
No comments:
Post a Comment