oops, I think I have my sparrows backwards, the little ones are the chippies and the bigger ones (who are gone now it seems) were tree sparrows. I'll get these sparrows nailed down yet!
Cat Reid
Rose Haven
Cathryn Reid <> wrote:
I too have lingering juncoes - both sexes I believe, about 5-8 yesterday, earlier in the week I had a whole raft of them - maybe 10-15. I also have about 4 White Throated Sparrows or 1 "pair" at least remains - the male quite decked out in spring finery, just recently a lot of Chippies (6-10?) and a couple of Tree? Sparrows (look similar to chippies but very small). Aren't these guys supposed to be elsewhere now?
and 9000 voracious grackles, ok not 9000, maybe 10-15. It feels and sounds like 9000. They are very handsome (very, very blue, one has 1 white edged wing) but they are eating me out of house and home and scaring away all the littler birds although not very far away, there has been such a swarm in my yard lately. The grackles are accompanied by some black birds that look like grackles but are much smaller and have yellow beaks or some do- and no they aren't starlings, red wing BBs, or Brown Headed CBs although all of these species do form part of the visiting horde. I am not sure what they are (yet), the little black birds that is.
the neighbourhood has been totally awash in birds lately, the sound in the morning is amazing, the past week I've seen in or from my yard -
a small pack of 5+ Blue Jays,
a flock of ~16 Cedar Waxwings, though the other day there just 2 which seemed a bit odd;
Robins, they are EVERYWHERE, at least 50
2 Brown Thrashers,
1 Towhee,
my usual Mockingbird pair,
at least 4 sets of Cardinal pairs, perhaps a few unattached as well, lots of Cardinals lately
Downy, Hairy, and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers (regulars)
Pileated Woodpeckers (pair, occasionally see them, they dont' come in the yard or to the feeders only heard them this week),
Northern Flickers (2 pairs) ,
a pair of Nuthatches ,
the afore mentioned Juncoes;
Grackles,
Red Wing Blackbirds,
Brown Headed Cowbirds,
Dratted Starlings
American Crows, prob a couple of Fish as well.
Hoot Owl (heard but not seen, darn it),
A couple hawk-like birds not sure which ones, but a Sharpie and Harrier I expect, they seem to be residents)
2 pair Osprey - established and returning pair and one pair who seem to be courting ?
Black Vulture - a courting pair - large, large numbers of them further up the road but dont' usually see them at the house
Chipping Sparrows - lots lately, more than I've ever seen at once
White Throated Sparrows - fewer than there were but still around
Am Tree? Sparrows
only a few HOSP
Goldfinch,
House Finch (couple Purples?)
1 male Bluebird
Tree Swallows (I think) ~8-10,
Can. Geese,
"Black Ducks" I think are Double Breasted Cormorants (fly overs)
GB Heron (f/o),
Titmice,
Chickadees, though very few,
Carolina Wrens - resident pair disappeared, this is a new one,
the large Brown Headed Cowbird flock,
the confused RC Kinglet (tho not for a few of days,he likes suet and the horde has been hogging it)
the Catbirds (2 pair near me last year) 1 pair is back maybe?
and several little birds - warbler/vireo types I can hear but can't see yet or see too briefly for
me to ID
and oh yes, last but not least, Dumb and Dumber the very sweet, but very feckless Mourning Dove pair who live in my yard and their hapless but seemingly indestructable offspring from last year, Born Yesterday.
Cat Reid
Rose Haven, So AA Co
Patricia Valdata
wrote:
Mine are mostly males, and they are strutting around, flicking the sides
of their tails a lot, chasing one another, and stuffing themselves
with thistle seed.
If they stick around until May, doesn't that make them late arrivals
where they nest?
Wouldn't birds that compete with them for nest sites already be there?
Of course, maybe they just think it's still winter around here. . . .
At 02:48 PM 4/19/2007, Frode Jacobsen wrote:
>I still have about five juncos lingering in our backyard and my feeder.
>They are however all females and yearling males (occasionally singing)
>that most likely are delaying their departure until the breeding season
>draws closer.
>
>Frode Jacobsen
>Baltimore, MD
>
>
> > According to the Yellow Book, juncos only nest, or
> > have nested, in Garrett County. Juncos often linger
> > into May but most of them will be gone already or
> > soon.
> >
> > Tyler Bell
> >
> > California, Maryland
> >
--Pat
Pat Valdata, Elkton, MD |
"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards
and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.
More than any other thing that pertains to the body
it partakes of the nature of the divine." --Plato
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