Snow and Finches

I got my first real taste of winter yesterday. I headed up to NJ Audubon's Scherman-Hoffman Sanctuary to pick up a book and a nyjer feeder. I also wanted to see the groups of Purple Finches and Pine Siskins that have been visiting their feeders. On the way there, the light rain that was falling turned into a light snowfall! Sheesh!

The feeders are Scherman-Hoffman were hopping with a few Purple Finches, tons of goldfinches, and several Pine Siskins. They have a great setup of feeders there with a nice big window to view them from. I actually saw my first White-crowned Sparrow and Pine Siskin at these feeders when I started birding.

Purple Finch

You can see some snow behind these goldfinches.

I picked up Howell & Webb's Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, a book I've always wanted and now I have a reason to use it (more on that in a future post). I also finally bought us a nyjer feeder for our yard. Siskins have been all over NJ the last week or so and I want some for our yard.

I put up the feeder as soon as I got home, then made us some PB&J. Lo and behold, by the time I was done making the sandwiches, we had 6 goldfinches on the feeder! Wow... now those are some quick results. Actually, I think they had been visiting our sunflower heart feeder since a few were hanging on that. Now, let's see some Siskins!

BirdCam Videos: A New Yard Bird!

I'm really having a lot of fun with my BirdCam. I swear a full review is pending! In the meantime, I tried out the video capabilities the last few days.

The first day I had it on the ground and captured mostly House Sparrows, squirrels, and a couple Black-capped Chickadees. The videos are only 10 seconds, so enjoy the first one.



I moved the camera to point to the feeders today. I caught the squirrels raiding my easily accessible peanut feeder. See below.



And finally, behind the squirrel tail wagging in front of the lens, is our long-overdue, first Red-breasted Nuthatch in the yard. Does it count as a yard bird if you don't actually see it? My answer is "Yes!" (It may help to click on this video to view it larger)

Dreaming of Thrushes

Have you ever heard a sound in your dream and then woke up to discover that the sounds is actually in real life? This happened to me this morning. I can't remember what I was doing in my dream (I usually can't), but I was definitely hearing the song of one of the Catharus thrushes (Gray-cheeked, Bicknell's, Swainson's, Hermit, Veery). I know Veery and Hermit well, but I always confuse the other three. Sure enough, my eyes popped open and I was still hearing the sound! It took me a few moments to realize that I was awake. I jumped out of bed and ripped open our sliding glass door. Sure enough, there was a thrush singing right on the other side of our fence. I was thinking "Swainson's", so I popped open the laptop and verified my thoughts. Sure enough, a Swainson's Thrush was singing in our yard. I've only heard this species once before and it is surely one of the most beautiful songs in North America. It's been my experience that Swainson's, Gray-cheeked, Bicknell's, and Hermit thrushes seldom sing in migration. I hear Veery often singing, but they breed in NJ. Hermits breed in NJ too, but I've never heard them singing off breeding territory. Does anyone have any info on this? I found some allusions to this online, but no distinct scientific info. I did get a brief view of the Swainson's when he perched on our fence. He then took off and was never seen or heard again. Interestingly, I had a Swainson's Thrush last year around this same time perched on the same fence.

Ooh... a Blackpoll just sang outside!

Yumpers and IATB

After you're done reading this, check out Greg's great take on I & The Bird - the best in bird blog posts from the last few weeks.

My yard was graced with a new bird today. As I was sitting down to watch some TV, I heard a song come from right outside my screen door. At first I thought it was a Wilson's Warbler due to its quick drop in pitch. I jumped up and saw a bird bolt from the oak tree in our yard. I then saw a group of birds chasing each other in the distance and I realized the song I was hearing was a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Their songs can be variable, but are generally a short trill ending in a sudden lower-pitched or higher-pitched shorter trill. "Yumper" may be a local NJ term that my birder friends came up with, but we use it a lot as a nickname for the bird. Yard bird #41! Not bad for a condo.

A Few New Yard Birds

Well, the northeast took a hit from a lovely snow and ice storm on Friday. It started out as sleet in the morning and quickly began to accumulate into a mushy mess. As the day went on, it got colder and icier. It stayed steady until after midnight and we ended up with 3-4" of hard-as-steel ice with snow packed on top. It's the kind of stuff that you break your back shoveling. Lucky for me, we live in a condo where I pay someone good money to do that for me.

The snow attracted a ton of birds to our feeders including at least a dozen each of White-throated Sparrows and Juncos. Our local Mockingbird, who does a heck of a job chasing away the Starlings, feasted on suet and seed repeatedly. We also had a new yard bird on Saturday - a Carolina Wren who also loved the suet. I had heard one singing in the past in our neighbor's yard, so it was only a matter of time before he/she found our suet.

All weekend long, reports of Fox Sparrows at feeders in NJ were coming across the email list. There must have been a big migration of them that got knocked down by the storm. People were reporting much larger than normal numbers. I looked outside every 20 minutes or so, hoping and praying to see one. No luck. Unfortunately, Beth was very sick at home today. Fortunately, I stopped home to make her some lunch. She was peering out the window when she shouted that something "different" was at the suet feeder. I was "indisposed" at the time (aka, in the bathroom!), so I missed it. When I looked outside a few minutes later, I saw a flash of a rufous tail fly from under the feeder into our neighbor's yard. Jackpot! I grabbed my bins and spied the first Fox Sparrow for our yard list scratching under my neighbor's cedar tree.

Pics to come tomorrow...