OK, I've finally managed to have a whole two days in a row away from work. Now that I'm well-rested and my chores are done, here are some highlights from 2006...
- Summer - Began feeding birds in May. Started out with an expensive, squirrel-proof hopper feeder , a cheap tube feeder grom Albertson's, a pair of thistle stockings, and a hummingbird feeder. Naturally, the cheap tube tube feeder was a massie hit with the Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, while the expensive hopper feeder was only occasionally used. Interestingly, I would see Chestnut-backed Chickadees a couple of times a month as well. The thistle stockings were a massive failure. I would routinely hear American Goldfinches flying above our yard, but they avoided our feeders like the plague. On the other hand, the hummingbird feeder almost immediately attracted Anna's Hummingbirds. They were a treat to see, although I had to move the feeder to the other side of the yard when the much more territorial and aggressive Rufous Hummers stopped by in August and September during their migration. One of them actually attacked a guy working on our neighbor's house. All in all, not a bad start.
- Fall - I purchased a couple more feeders to support the expected number of birds in my yard this fall. This included a solid squirrel-proof tube feeder, a basic suet basket, a and birdbath (which I probably should've purchased earlier, given how dry the summer was). I was also intent on getting Goldfinches to feed in my yard, so I purchased a cheap plastic feeder from Wal-Mart and a bracket assembly from Home Depot and mounted the feeder on the relatively tree-free north side of the house. Approximately four days later, I came home from work to find 1/3 of the feeder empty, seed all over the ground, and bird droppings on the side of the feeder - the hallmarks of Goldfinches. It's all about location. The suet feeder took a much longer time to find. The thing sat there for over a month. I changed out the suet cake and, eventually, birds began to find it. The first were the Red-breasted Nuthatches and BC Chickadees. Not long after were Downy Woodpeckers and Northern (Red-Shafted) Flickers. I had never seen a Flicker before and, wow, I feel lucky to have them visting my yard. Western Scrub Jays and Crows would also visit the basket on occasion. I had hope that either the Scrub or Steller's Jays would vist that expensive hopper feeder (or even the cheap tray of sunflower seeds on the ground), but no dice. Even the House Finches found the hopper feeder to be awkward and would feed at one of the tube feeders instead. Geez, it's a good thing that I got it on sale. The birdbath was also not terribly popular, save for a few BC Chickadees taking an occasional drink. And speaking of water, it was a rather wet autumn. We received over 14" of rain in November alone. Ay, caramba!
- Winter - This winter was my first year participating in Project FeederWatch, a self-described citizen science project. The first recording week in mid-November kicked off with the relatively-rare sighting of a Winter Wren, who I identified almost immediately by the sight of its teeny stub of a tail. Representing heavily in late '06 were Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and I also began to see Yellow-Rumped and Townseld's Warblers. Varied Thrushes showed up in mid-December and became a mainstay, gleaning suet crumbs from underneath the basket. I hung a small suet feeder next to our front door, which quickly became a favorite for RB Nuthatches and Bushtits. However, I began to see fewer and fewer CB Chickadees and Jays for some reason. I received a selective thistle feeder with a tray and ample perching room and hung this off of the back corner of my garage. The Goldfinches were confused by the wire cage, so I removed it. Both the Goldfinches and Dark-Eyed Juncos took to it quickly. I also moved the other thistle feeder from the north side of the house to the tree near the driveway (closer to the cluster of pines) in hopes of attracting Pine Siskins. Unfortunately, they stayed away from my yard this year. I had hoped that the super-expensive hopper feeder would be good for attracting Evening Grosbeaks, but it did a better job of attracting mold than birds. So, I stored it in the garage and purchased a large fly-through feeder, cleverly hung in a place where squirrels can't get to it. As I'll describe later, it was a great success. A White-Breasted Nuthatch - not especially common in the predominantly-coniferous Northwest - occasionally showed up to the pine trees near our yard. Interestingly, it was much more reluctant to visit the feeders than its cousins on the other side of the Rockies (I was told that feeding is more learned than instinctual in WB Nuthatches.) All in all, 2006 was a very successful season.
- Posted at Sunday, March 4, 2007 04:07 PM
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