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by Mike 30th October 2010, 6:58 pm

On the fifth day ........ and let fowl fill the skies above the Earth .......

Five days no we have had a feeder out during daylight hours. have to remember to bring it in each night as around here there are bears and they haven't gone to sleep for the winter yet. So far ...........

1) chickadee
2) tufted titmpouse
3 blue jay
4) slate colored junco
5) white breasted nuthatch
6) pine siskin
7) goldfinch

by Sparhawk 31st October 2010, 1:12 am

Do bears not sleeping yet mean that autumn is getting longer & winter shorter, or that they are stocking up for a sharper colder winter...

by Mike 31st October 2010, 1:34 am

Neither.

It would be a very harsh, early winter that would have bears abed here before November has even begun. And bears always sock away as much as they can find. What causes them to den up is diminishing returns, when wandering around there's no gain because so little food left they lose more calories than they gain.

We sometimes get snow cover that stays by mid November but begining of December more usual. Once the ground is covered so is any beech or oak mast and wih those sources out of their diet equation no point staying up longer. Of course if enough people feed them ......... (an unsecured garbage pail is feeding bears; and it takes a lot to secure something against a bear).

by Sparhawk 31st October 2010, 2:14 am

Thanks Mike,

I was also going to ask a question about bears &:

7) goldfish...

then I blinked & got my contacts straight & realised it was

7) goldfinch...

So didn't... lol!

by Mike 31st October 2010, 6:47 pm

Today add these species

Cool

purple finch (female)
9) hairy woodpecker
10) white throated sparrow
11) cardinal (female)

(and saw five of the earlier seven)

At this point there are huge numbers of chickadees and lots of juncos hoping seeds will fall. Last year seeing one brave junco willing to try to learn new acrobatic tricks manage to cling and feed I have modified the feeders with coat hanger wire so that there are some open platform "preches" for daring ground feeding birds to try. Seems to work (for some juncos) but I won't really know how effecitve till I see a mourning dove manage.

by Mike 5th November 2010, 2:14 pm

12) red breasted nuthatch (odd that it took this many days for these to begin showing up)

by Mike 9th November 2010, 2:53 pm

13) Song sparrow --- three under the feeder. Reasonably certain on the ID but the light is poor quality with blue jays looking grey. Wish it was in season for them to be singing in which case the "Maids.... maids ..... maids .....putonyourteakettle" would be unmistakable.

by Mike 9th November 2010, 10:54 pm

14) downy woodpecker --- odd that a hairy had shown up first. But neither will be regular visitors till I hang the suet cage up. Woodpeckers don't care much for seeds.

by Mike 24th November 2010, 2:38 pm

15) ring-necked pheasant (that's the only sort you see feral in the US)
Now this is unusual for us, the first we've ever seen on our land which is more mature woods than proper pheasant habitat. But one seems to have taken up residence between our house and a neighbor across the road. Wasn't counting it earlier but this morning it was in our garden and so in the "official bird counting area". Our neighbor has been putting out food for it by her bird feeder so perhaps decided to check out ours.

by Mike 29th November 2010, 10:40 pm

ravens -- not of course down at the bird feeder but while I was putting the feeder out in the morning there was a pair soaring overhead. Distinguishable from crows when not up close by their voice and tails and while crows do sometimes glide, rarely in a tight circle (trying to stay in a small "thermal")

You don't need to have a terribly old birding book for the Eastern US to have the range for ravens described as just the higher elevations of the spine of the Appalachians. But while sightings at lower elevations used to be rare at this point they are well on their way recovering their full range. Not yet down into the lower valleys but we're above 300m.

They've sometimes perched on a tree top at our place but usually we just see them overhead.

by flute 29th November 2010, 11:07 pm

It was really strange yesterday, just before it started to snow, outside I saw a single magpie. It flitted on the rooves of the other houses before disappearing out of sight, then it started to snow! SCARY! Shocked

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