Birds, I am finding, are tactical in their visits. First they fly in from another yard and land in a tree close by to the tree by the feeders, some times they fly directly to the pear try the feeders are setup under. Once they are perched safely above the feeders where they can survey the area they will either swoop down to the feeders or flee our yard all together from some (imaginary?) prey that might intend them harm. Many times it is a movement or sound coming from our sun room that frightens them off, but I have wondered on several occasions what they see that I don't from their perch.
Starting off today I got a few nice pics during a mild thunderstorm as the birds flew in to visit our feeders. First is this nuthatch who is a frequent, and slightly more bold visitor then some of our other birds. Our nuthatch friend usually flies directly to the pear tree pecking as he climbs up and down the trunk before hopping to the feeder for a few bits of safflower. I think he is checking out me in this picture that I tried to discreetly snap.
One of my favorite visitors is this house finch. His red feathers extend further down the front of his chest then most house finches I've seen and he seems to be proud of it! We've noticed him recently and enjoy that he comes frequently, although he seems to prefer the regular bird mix over the Niger seed we offer for finches. He is not easily chased away by the bullying sparrows that like to take over the feeder. He has checked out our finch feeder but seems fine leaving the Niger for the Goldfinches.
Most of the time the finches come in pairs - as do some of our other visitors such as Cardinals and Blue Jays. One of the two birds will land first in a tree branch and keep watch while the other bird eats. I have noticed lately that the goldfinches will both eventually feed at the same time - not sure if they are just hungry or growing accustomed to our feeders. Here is one of the yellow beauties perched above our bluebird feeder to see if it is "safe" enough to approach the finch feeder. I have not seen a blue bird feed from our dome feeder yet, although they perch regularly on the within sight, they have not come in to feed yet.
The Tufted Titmouse has been a regular, and rather fleeting visitor. It is not as easy to get pictures of this little feathered friend so I was glad this morning to capture him at the feeder. This has been an easy bird for me to recognize (outside of the obvious goldfinch, Cardinals and Blue Jays) because of the crested hood they have.
We have noticed how the sparrows can take over the bird feeder, "bullying" other birds that try to eat there. They often perch in the branches above and swoop down to chase off any songbirds that are there or will perch on the feeder and not leave when other birds approach. We tried hanging string from the feeder, something we heard sparrows do not like but hardly any other birds would eat there. I read online that the millet is what the sparrows like so I've picked up a mix of safflower, cracked corn and Sunflower seeds that we are going to try. We will see if they lose interest in the feeder so we can enjoy more of a variety of birds. This first picture of the sparrow perched close by ready to hop onto the feeder shows they are not shy!
We noticed an unusual looking sparrow last weekend. It is much smaller with a little red "cap" or stripe on it's head. you can see it in the left-hand side of this picture along with the other sparrows feeding at the ground under our feeder.
Lastly I'm always glad to see Woodpeckers when they visit our suet feeders. This downy woodpecker has often come to the suet feeder close to the windows of our sun room. We also get red-headed woodpeckers but they will only visit the suet feeders hanging form the trees.
I hope you've enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoy taking them. I'd love to hear your comments about the birds that visit your feeders or suggestions on how to deal with the bullying birds like sparrows. Looking forward to blogging about our feathered friends again soon!
