November Birds

Last Monday’s blizzard didn’t get its fill of bullying as it stayed on into Tuesday.  School was canceled for the second day in a row.  While kids rejoice with such news, we adults face the reality of the miserable work of digging out from the storm.  One upside is that a blizzard brings on a frenzy of birding activity in the yard.  Natural food sources get covered up, and many birds head to the easy pickings of a feeder.  The activity was so hot that all of us found ourselves looking out the window at one point or another to see the feathered fray outside.  Here are the highlights:

A FOF (first-of-fall) American Tree Sparrow showed up.  It is such a good-looking sparrow and a great bird to have in the yard.

American Tree Sparrow

Blue Jays continued to delight even if they were having bad hair days.

Blue Jay

Previously a shy bird for the October Birds post, the Hairy Woodpecker decided to show up along with a couple others! We had a record-high count of three in the yard.

Hairy Woodpecker

This next bird has long been a family favorite, and on this day our normal pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves doubled!  It was another record-high count for the yard.  ECDOs are quite uncommon and seldom seen in most of Minnesota, so we are quite fortunate to have them in our yard.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

This next bird isn’t exactly a highlight nor very rare, but it is rare to see a European Starling in the yard. Normally I don’t photograph this bird, but it showed up during the photo shoot, so what the heck.  And actually, it’s kind of cool-looking.

European Starling

Another bird that missed last month’s photo shoot and that never gets old to see is the Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal

The male, though, was just not very photogenic, always sitting in seed trash or posing with food in its beak.  Typically overshadowed by her mate, the female stole the show on this day proudly displaying her beauty with subtle hints of red.

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

Northern CardinalClearly this female has had enough of being sidelined by photographers and male Cardinals alike.

Northern Cardinal

What could be better than a pair of Northern Cardinals in the yard? How about TWO pair! This was another record high-count brought on by the storm.  Woohoo!

Northern Cardinal

The males did NOT share feeder space.Northern Cardinal

Not pictured in any of my posts are the hordes of House Sparrows that we feed.  I would guess over 50.  I actually don’t mind them because I consider them bait for something bigger, better.  I was in my bedroom folding laundry and not paying attention to the incessant noise of all the sparrows and other birds at the feeders when I heard a huge WOOOOSH as all these birds flushed simultaneously and a loud, collective “CHEEP!” which I’m pretty sure is bird-speak for “Oh S#$%!” I knew a predator had finally come in to nab a meal.  I raced to the window, thinking I’d see my Northern Shrike return.  To my amazement, a huge raptor swooped in and landed in front of our living room window.  It was a Cooper’s Hawk! I hollered for Evan to come see it, but he was in the basement and didn’t hear me.  I got out to the living room and saw this guy perched just 6 feet from the window.

Coopers Hawk

I left this next photo uncropped so you could see just how close it was – you can see the soffit of my house in the upper right of the photo.

Coopers Hawk

This was a cool sighting.  Too bad it didn’t grab a sparrow or two before it tried to fly into my living room and then leave.

Another highlight bird that showed up a week after this stormy day was a Fox Sparrow who was very late but still very much the life of the yard party.

Fox Sparrow

Storms are fun if you’re a birder.  It turns out that the day that brought us the Varied Thrush also delivered a duck gift to Minnesota on Lake Superior.  This news would start a week-long internal storm of sorts for this birder.

October Birds

October has been relatively light on birding as busy schedules and a mediocre fall migration have not provided a lot of exciting birding opportunities.  To drive this point home, the best birding moment was getting a county Snow Goose.

Snow Goose

October’s saving grace, though, is that the yard activity picks up tremendously.  With winter approaching, some of the more reclusive birds and even a couple of the northern birds are being drawn out of the woodwork. The window-birding at home has been quite entertaining lately.  Everyone in this house has been caught looking at some bird or another at least once in the last week. So here’s a photo-tour of some of our frequent visitors.

We’ve had a few Blue Jays show up regularly this past month.  The way these birds fly, show off their beauty, bully the others, and swallow sunflower seeds whole make this the bird to watch.

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

Though not as pretty as the Blue Jay, especially during the winter months, the American Goldfinch is always a fun bird to see.

American Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

I begrudgingly post this next photo of a northern visitor.  The first Dark-eyed Junco showed up in late September.  It is always symbolic of the cold winter months to follow. They spend a good half year with us, so their arrival is not always a welcome sight. Still, they are a constant part of the winter birding scene, and they come in fun, different flavors.

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

On the other hand, this friendly resident and its songs never, ever get old.  In fact, I even have it on my license plate.  Kudos to you, Maine and Massachusetts, for choosing it as your state bird.

Black-capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee

Something about the colder months brings out the woodpeckers.  The Downy is a common sight, but it sure is dapper.

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

You can’t quite fully appreciate this bird’s nape and awkward perching ability unless you view it from behind.

Downy Woodpecker

Though the Downy’s bigger cousin, the Hairy Woodpecker, wasn’t up for a photo shoot, the much-cooler, poorly named Red-bellied Woodpecker has been bellying up to the feeder quite regularly this fall.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker – if you look real close you can see just a hint of red on his belly right between his two legs.

This has to be one of my favorite yard-birds.  It is a real stunning bird. Marin has even taken notice and is quite proud of herself for getting the name right.  The only reason this bird isn’t called a Red-headed Woodpecker is that a much more deserving species has already claimed that name.  Regardless, because it is so good-looking in its own right, it does deserve more than just one obligatory photo in this blog post.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

One of the more exciting yard birds – exciting because of its rarity and not because of its beauty, is the Purple Finch.  The females are not so purply, but given this was only their second appearance here ever, I was pretty thrilled to see these two girls from the north.

Purple Finch females and House Sparrow male

Purple Finch females and House Sparrow male

On par with the Purple Finch both for its geographical origins and its infrequency at our house is the Pine Siskin.

Pine Siskin

Pine Siskin

Prior to this fall we’d only ever had them here once before.  In fact, we’ve never seen a Pine Siskin anywhere outside of our yard.  This fall we’ve had 3-4 of them that have been showing up for a few days in a row now.  I hope they stick around.

Pine Siskin

Pine Siskin

We are burning through lots of seed right now, but it’s worth it.  They provide lots of entertainment.  The best part is that these birds are the birds that will be with us for the duration of the winter season.  Regular visitors that are not pictured include White-breasted Nuthatch, Eurasian-Collared Dove, Mourning Dove, Hairy Woodpecker, and our delightful pair of Northern Cardinals.  The cardinals tend to feed right at dawn and dusk which doesn’t allow for good photography.  They, too, are a family favorite.  Not only are all these birds around for the season, but we have more northern birds to look forward to! Though the Canadian winter finch forecast is a mixed bag, we are expected to get some Common Redpolls.  And if there’s enough of them, there’ll be a Hoary mixed in.  We certainly won’t have the Redpoll Mania like we had two years ago, but any day now they should show up.  I also am hoping that we will have a Northern Shrike in the yard for the third winter in a row.

Though the yard-birding has been pretty good, the itch to explore new turf and tally new birds is growing.  This weekend Evan and I will be gone on a two-night trip to check out the birds of Lake Superior’s north shore.  Double-digit life birds is a very real possibility. Stick around.

Get the Oranges and Grape Jelly – Stat!

Not only do we tell you about our birding adventures on this blog, but we also use it from time to time as a platform for public service announcements.  So here it is – if you want to see orioles in your yard, get your oranges and grape jelly out NOW!  Don’t worry about taking down those Christmas lights – I know I didn’t.

It’s very simple to get started: cut an orange or two in half and set them out on a deck railing, tree branch, etc.  Then put out a bowl of grape jelly.  YOU DO NOT NEED FANCY FEEDERS.  Don’t wory about it. The orioles don’t.

I saw radar maps of migrating birds that showed today would be a banner day.  So before I turned in for the night last night, I followed my own advice and put out the oranges and grape jelly.  And right away this morning I was rewarded with two Baltimore Orioles.

Baltimore Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

IMG_8261I might be out chasing birds, but Melissa makes sure the ones here on the ranch are taken care of.  She bought lots of jars of cheap grape jelly and this cool, mess-free feeder.  I know, I said you don’t need a fancy feeder.  It’s true, you don’t.  Welch’s will not like the following statement either: you don’t even need name-brand jelly.

IMG_8256If you have kids I firmly think you should have a bird feeder of some sort.  They are pretty exciting for everyone to watch.  As Evan is in Cub Scouts and into birding, I’ve often thought that a great Eagle Scout project would be to erect and maintain bird feeders at a nursing home.  If he’s still into both those activites in 10 years, I’ll suggest it.

Watching feeder birds is fun for the whole family.

Watching feeder birds is fun for the whole family.

If you want a LOT more birds than just orioles, throw out some black-oiled sunflower seeds on a feeder or your lawn and watch the magic happen.  Our yard list is getting closer and closer to the century mark for number of bird species.  Right now, the sparrows are ruling the roost.  The White-throated are the most abundant, and their song always reminds us of our home in northern Minnesota.

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

IMG_8252

Today the sparrows were falling out of the sky.  Our first-of-the-year Harris’s Sparrows showed up as well.  Such an odd-looking bird.

Harris's Sparrow

Harris’s Sparrow

IMG_8247IMG_8241It was quite the sparrow-fest in the yard today.

IMG_8228We even had a brief drop-in from a Clay-colored Sparrow.

Clay-colored Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow

And, of course, Chipping Sparrows are all over right now trilling from treetops and just chilling out at the local watering hole.

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

So what are you waiting for?  Get the jelly, oranges, and seed out there to get the party started in your own yard.

An Outing to Sibley State Park

Today Evan and I fed our birding habit by attending a bird feeding seminar at nearby Sibley State Park. Since there aren’t as many species around in the winter as there are in the summer and since it’s hard to get out birding, we thought it would be a good idea to take in this seminar to see what we could do to enhance our birdwatching from the comfort of our own home.  The great thing about Minnesota’s state parks is that they have all kinds of programs througout the year. All of these activities are placed on one calendar at the DNR’s website. (Click here to access it.) The cool thing about this calendar is that Evan and I can see what birding programs are offered at any of our Minnesota’s 67 state parks.

Sibley State Park was alive and well today as people took advantage of this beautiful, sunny day by skiing, sledding, or staying in one of the park’s camper-cabins. Not many people, however, attended the bird-feeding seminar at the park’s interpretive center. It was Evan and me and one other family group.  That was fine with us.  The park naturalist, Dick, gave about an hour long presentation on winter birds, their habits, and how best to feed them.  At the beginning of his slideshow he would put a bird picture on the screen and ask if anyone knew the name.  Of course we knew them, but Evan can be quite shy and therefore wasn’t answering Dick.  After a nudge or two from his dad, he finally started identifying every bird correctly.  Later on I was visiting with Dick who commented on how remarkable it was that someone Evan’s age knew so many bird species.  He told me most adults he runs into can’t identify birds that they see.

Rather than giving you a complete summary of Dick’s talk, I thought I’d share with you my exit slip from his talk.  In the education world, an exit slip is a person’s own take-aways from a lesson.  It contains the information the student found most important.

  • Minnesota has 400+ bird species; 206 have been found at Sibley
  • Only 44 bird species show up at feeders in MN in the winter; only 12-15 show up in our area (That’s a bummer because I think we’ve had them all already and can’t really expect many new ones, but at the same time it’s cool that we are seeing all that we can.)
  • Bird feeders should be placed on the south or east side of your house
  • Black-oiled sunflower seeds are the only kind of seed you really need, though some species do like milo, cracked corn, and thistle
  • There are more thistle-feeding birds in the winter than in the summer (Goldfinches stick around, though they are more greenish than bright yellow)
  • Birds are attracted to water, and there are plug-in, winter water features available for purchase (we will probably buy one this week)
  • All four niches of bird feeders should be used to maximize your birdwatching experience: tabletop feeders, hanging feeders (suet and thistle), tree-trunk suet feeders, and seeds on the ground
To see some of our bird feeding success this winter, check out an earlier post called Couch Potato Birding.