The New Birdwatching Year

Just as New Year's is a chance to change bad habits or take care of things that we've procrastinated doing in the past, it is also a chance to start anew on our yearly bird list. I use it to track changes in my backyard visitors, but also to renew my enthusiasm for seeing some of our more common visitors. This year started off with a bang.

This morning, before heading out on a casual bird walk, we peaked out at the feeders and saw a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers (1)visiting our suet station. They are amazing looking creatures! We headed off to lunch at the Old Brogue Pub in Great Falls before hopping over to the C&O canal. Today we decided to hike the eastern portion of the Billy Goat Trail from Carderock to the point where it rejoins the trail. It was a very quiet day on the river--for the birds anyway. The clouds seemed to lend a hush over them. With the time of day, we heard the typical calls of the Chickadees (2) and Cardinals(3). Among the birds we did see were the Belted Kingfisher (4), Turkey Vulture(5), Red-bellied Woodpeckers(6), a number of Canada Geese (7)(of course) and several pairs of Mallards (8). We also saw a group Golden-crowned Kinglets (9) with at least one White-breasted Nuthatch (10) and a Brown Creeper (11). I hadn't seen a Brown Creeper since the one(?) who used to visit my suet feeder stopped coming after the lovely Town of Vienna allowed the near-clear-cutting of three acres of woods to build houses on several years ago. Apparently the Brown Creeper needed those woods more than the real estate market needed the houses...but I digress.

I bagged one new species for my North America List: the Common Raven (12)--I've seen this guy in Ireland and the United Kingdom, but never identified him at home. Moreover, I think I saw a pair of American Wigeons: a pair of ducks in flight that did not look like Mallards, one had some green on his head and both had white patches on the wings. If the male is in breeding colors now, like the Mallard, it might be the bird, but I didn't get a good enough look to be confident enough to add him to my life list.

Other birds of the new year--and also for my backyard, include English House Sparrow(13)--of which I have scads (sigh)--American Crow (14), House Finch(15), Dark-eyed Juncos(16) and Mourning Dove(17). ( I saw 40 on December 30th in my bird feeding areas!)

Bird-brained Means Really Intelligent [Updated]

In my last post, I mentioned that I saw a diseased House Finch while spending time out with our cardiac kitty (of that I'll return). I mentioned that I try to catch the little fellows when I see them, because a course of antiobiotics has been known to cure the eye disease.

Last summer was the first time I made the effort to catch one of these guys. A male had rested on one of my tube feeders and showed little sign of sensing my presence. I spent several days trying to sneak up and put a hat or towel over him. This appeared to cause an interesting change in behavior at my feeders--at least among the House Finches. Prior to my attempting to stalk our sick finch, the flock that fed at my feeders--all commoners in the Mid-Atlantic--was very tame. Several species seemed to differentiate between when I was adding food to the feeders and when I was bringing our cats out--and would actually flock to the feeding spots when I was doing the former. Afterward, I noticed that as soon as I opened our back door, all of the House Finches would fly away.

Not too long after, I read about a study done at the University of Washington about American Crows being able to identify the people who were capturing and banding them and other crows on the campus also identifying the threatening people.

[Updated to correct study location and link to the paper.]

Backyard Birding 2010

New Years Day 10-1130am
2pm-2:45

Junco male - 12
Cardinals - 3 ( male adult 1; female/ juvenile -2)
Carolina Wren - 2 ( They were singing to each other)
Carolina Chickadee - 2
American Crow - 3
Nuthatch - 1
Titmouse -2
Blue Jay - 1
House Sparrow - 12 (4 male)
House finch - 4 (1 male)
White-throated Sparrow - 2 (1 black/white, 1 blck/brown head strip pattern)
Song Sparrow - 1
Mourning Doves -23
Downy Woodpecker -1

We're concerned we've seen far fewer Juncos this fall and winter than usual, despite the early snow.