Words On Birds 06-26-26

 

     With spring migration over, we find ourselves spending more time enjoying the resident birds in our own backyards. Those of us who have nesting boxes on our property may be monitoring those for activity. Some of us may be viewing chickadees, tree swallows, house wrens, or bluebirds. Others may be watching robins, cardinals, orioles, or mourning doves attending to nests in the branches of the trees and shrubs in the yard.

 

     For those of us who offer food and water for our birds throughout the summer, we are enjoying the array of colorful breeding plumages that flash about our bird feeders. In our yard, the rose-breasted grosbeaks, cardinals, goldfinches and even an occasional purple finch are enjoying our sunflower seeds. Up to six Baltimore orioles are still visiting our grape jelly and a pair of hummingbirds occasionally visit the nectar feeder, adding to the array colors. Even the blue jays add their special hues of blue to our landscape.

 

     We also enjoy the entertainment of some of the less colorful birds. One of favorite visitors is the white-breasted nuthatch (whom Margo calls Nut Job). He enjoys our sunflower seeds and peanuts as well as our suet. A female nuthatch often joins him and, as the season progresses, they usually bring their offspring to our source of food.

 

     Our tufted titmice are always cheerful, announcing their presence with a song or chatter. Lately, one of the titmice has been followed by a youngster. The young titmouse will rapidly flutter its wings as it begs for food from its parent. 

 

     We only see one chickadee at a time at our feeders. Other people have multiple chickadees and fewer titmice. Both species can be very entertaining throughout the nesting season.

 

     One or two chipping sparrows stop by, sometimes feeding from the mixed seed feeder, but lately feeding under the feeders. A young chippy showed up this week.

 

     None are more cute than the Carolina wrens. When we originally had them coming for mealworms, Margo dubbed them “Meghan and Harry.” We have a feeder with a cup of live mealworms accessible only by small birds though a wire cage. The “spoiled” wrens always insisted on live worms and snubbed the dried ones that put out for the bluebirds.

 

     We could tell the wren’s nesting cycle by their feeding pattern. They first would come one at a time as they were building a nest, or when they were incubating eggs. Once the eggs hatched, the two would come together, always having a cheerful song, fill their long, curved bills with as many worms as they can fit securely, and then fly off to feed their young. Their chatter turned to a “scold” whenever we didn’t get mealworms out in time, or whenever they ran out.

 

     Our Carolina wrens disappeared last winter. There may have been just too much snow for them to endure. But we are hearing wrens singing their song around the house again, so it may be time to start putting live mealworms out again.

 

     The bluebirds always seem to nest in neighbor’s yards, though we have nest boxes available for them. They do come for dried mealworms and even bring their offspring by for the free meal.

 

     Our greatest activity comes from the woodpeckers. We have a variety of suet feeders to accommodate all of them. Our downy woodpeckers now number at least six. There were at least two youngsters with red on the top of their head this week. At least two males and two females visit nearly every day.

 

     We also have a pair of hairy woodpeckers that visit regularly and they have brought their offspring by in past years. We are still waiting for this year’s brood to visit.

 

     The large red-bellied woodpeckers always seem to dominate. Whether it is the male or the female, they will displace any other bird from the suet or peanut feeders and move right in to feed. Their bald-headed youngster comes in with them now.

 

     We have had our share of challenges, as any feeder situation does. We have a few grackles that scare off the cardinals, grosbeaks and smaller birds to dominate the seed feeders and an occasional suet feeder as well. We have a starling that was devouring all our peanut butter suet from one of our suet feeders. We went to an “upside-down” style suet feeder for the peanut butter suet, but the starling still flutters up to it like a hummingbird bird and fills its bill with the softer suet.

 

     The baffles on our feeder poles do well at deterring the squirrels and chipmunks. So we have minimal problems with the blackbirds and squirrels. However, any challenges are far outweighed by the pleasures of watching all the resident birds feeding, nesting and providing for their families.