The spring migrating birds have arrived. The other morning I woke up before sunrise and even with the windows closed and the shades drawn I knew that a flock of White-throated Sparrows had descended upon my yard. I could hear dozens of them singing together loudly.
When I opened the shades I also saw a little flock of Chipping Sparrows and quite a few Yellow-rumped Warblers.
While watching some of the sparrows with my camera lens, this beautiful White-crowned Sparrow appeared in the viewfinder:
I took down most of my feeders a few days ago. I left the Nyger feeders for the goldfinches and one hanging peanut feeder for the woodpeckers, but that’s it. I’m trying to get some of the chipmunks and squirrels to move on to someone else’s yard so they won’t do so much digging damage and tulip decapitation.
However, all it took for me to fold like a cheap tent was seeing a female grosbeak struggling to snatch a peanut from the peanut feeder. Within minutes I was outside reattaching one of the hopper feeders and filling it with sunflower seeds and nuts. I guess I can feed the birds for a few more days…
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Hi Em. I know what you mean. A few years ago we actually had a bear in our backyard, and he destroyed the hummingbird feeders and the feeders containing sunflower seeds. I watched him! Very unusual for our area, and we haven’t heard of any sightings since then. Anyway, I took all my feeders down for the rest of the summer that year, and missed the little birds so much. The next year back up they went, lol. I have quite a few white crowned sparrows this year, and the rose breasted grosbeaks are back. There seems to be several pairs, and one year their babies even came to the feeders all summer. We live a couple of miles from town, near Lake Huron, and there is quite a bit of bush all around us, so we get quite a few birds here. Grackles are also a pain, as they fling their droppings all over the place, so I feel your pain about that. Not to often they bother the feeders, though. I think I told you about the blue grosbeak we had one year. Nothing has topped that yet. Take care!
Wow, a bear! That must’ve been exciting and frightening at the same time. That’s one creature I don’t think I’ll ever have to worry about in the city. Although my family jokes that if anyone would get a bear in their yard, it would be me.
I’m hoping that by putting up 3 birdbaths this summer that I can still attract birds while avoiding some of the riffraff. Although this morning I had to fish bread out of one of the birdbaths courtesy of Mr. Crow. It’s always something!
I think the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks skipped us on their migration to Canada this year. I’ve only seen the one female. How fun to be able to watch a family of them at your feeders for a whole summer!
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