Great Backyard Bird Count 2014

Long overdue post but that's what happens when you're in graduate school, homework comes first.  I did want to share some photos from the recent Great Backyard Bird Count.  My family and I went up to the mountains for some cabin time and my very first bird of the weekend was seen from the front porch - Steller's Jay!

You can see from the ruffled feathers that it was a bit windy.

The best part wasn't the beautiful blue birds but the plethora of Pygmy Nuthatches.  I have never seen as many, counted 11 in total at the feeder at one time!

There were also Mountain Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpeckers, American Crows, and Clark's Nutcrackers.

I usually don't think of woodpeckers as being huge but this Hairy just looked ginormous to me in comparison to those little Pygmy Nuthatches.  I'll try to get a video up of the little devils attacking the feeder.

How was your GBBC weekend?

Suet Time

The backyard birds haven't been showing up recently so I decided to up the stakes and tack on a suet block.  It definitely worked because the birds came out in droves.  I spent almost a hour watching the Black-capped Chickadees, House Finches, and House Sparrows take turns on the cage feeder.

A pair of Downy Woodpeckers tackled the suet and even a Flicker came by for a visit.  Dark-eyed Juncos worked below on picking up the scraps.

The feeder birds gave us a good show and then the next day, it was time for the squirrels to give the suet a try.  I let them eat for 5 minutes before letting the dogs out to scare them off.  Suet isn't cheap and I don't mind the squirrels sharing but they can't eat all the goods.

I admire their ambition and ability to get the prize and they are pretty with their reddish faces and busy tails.  I am more acquainted with the small Grey Squirrels of the Southeast, so every time I see these large red squirrels, I take  a moment to admire them.  Even if I rather they leave my feeders alone!

Goldfinches at the Feeder

The backyard bird feeder is still up and running.  We have had a few new visitors such as Juncos and Goldfinch.  I love to hear the sound of Chickadees in the morning but the flocks of Goldfinches are even more impressive.  Unfortunately, they don't visit every day so I am always stoked when I come home at lunch to find them eagerly eating away.  I can't wait until our next new yardbird.  Until then, I will be content with the Goldfinches.

Backyard Feeder Birds

In the backyard we have frequent visits from Northern Flickers and doves but now that we are coming into the winter months I decided we must get a feeder for the backyard.  You can imagine our delight when within a day of hanging our new feeder we were graced with some noisy Chickadees.  Our second feeder birds were seen a couple of days later, two House Finches but they flew away before I could snap a photo.  I look forward to a winter full of chickadees and finches.  I'll keep you posted on what new birds may arrive.