I was home with a cold on Friday. I don’t care for the cold part, but I don’t mind being home … and especially on a day when the birds are active.
In addition to the usual chickadees, starlings and pigeons, a couple of white-breasted nuthatches checked out the suet log and a couple of bluejays drank from the birdbath. A male and a female cardinal were munching on safflower all day. Here’s a glimpse of the male:
And about a dozen redpolls were almost constantly visiting the nyjer feeders. Here’s a look at the male cardinal and some redpolls; I counted four of them in this frame:
It has been three winters since I’ve had any redpolls at my feeders. Once they come, they tend to stay around … until one day they suddenly disappear. That will mean they’ve headed up to their summer home in the Arctic.
There may have been a few pine siskins in the mix. And I didn’t realize it until I was editing the pictures just now, but there was at least one goldfinch as well:
Your bird stories and pictures welcome at: jlundy@duluthnews.com.
My wife and I have seen siskins only twice this winter, once in December and once in January. We do see them mixed in with Redpolls and Goldfinch. Last year we had some large flocks but this year we only had them in the beginning of the season. I have mostly seen Common Redpolls. I think I may have seen a Hoary or two but none of them have shown up on my photos. Here is a link to a photo of a siskin http://mckenna-tessman.com/birdblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/pinesiskinPC206609.jpg
After many winter seasons with an abundance of Bluejays, their existence at my feeders, and deer ribs in the trees has been almost nil. More Canadians. Chickadees, Nut hatches,
Goldfinches, Juncos, and lately Redpols. Occasional Woodpeckers and many Pine Grosbeaks (No Evening GB). What happened to my big beautiful/but sometimes mean/ blue visitors?
I am having a banner year here for birds. My neighbor says I cheat because I have a heated bird bath “Sure they come to your house, you give them a spa.” I have a huge population of redpolls, goldfinches, bluejays and mourning doves,hairy and downy weedpeckers, nut hatches and chickadees. But my biggest flock is the pine siskins. I have hundreds I am sure. It is a good thing I havee Dans Feed Bin to keep me in seed. They are a hungry lot, and when I refill the birdbath the rim is lined with birds.