Birding from my Window

I’m beginning to feel that I’m addicted to this matter of birding from the comfort of our warm house looking out through the patio doors to the back yard.  In fact, I may never venture out into the cold hard world again. Just kidding, I’m sure I can quit anytime, just don’t know at the moment why I would ever want to. -- Below are a few birds I have seen today.  Nineteen different species were identified.  I don’t believe we made it to thirty degrees. 

A cold female Anna's Hummingbird from this morning.

An uncommon White-throated Sparrow.

A first winter Golden-crowned Sparrow.

A tiny male Downy Woodpecker

Morning Fix

Because of the extreme cold weather we have been taking the hummingbird feeder inside the house at night to prevent freezing.  This morning when I hung the feeder outside in the grey dawn around seven o’clock; it was only a few seconds before the hummers were on it. The feeder hangs in the protected area of out patio where the thermometer read 14 degrees this morning.  Many of us humans depend on coffee to get us going in the morning, but I am convinced that hummers get their fix from the sugar water, and this morning they seemed desperate. I only noticed the one bird feeding when I took this photo, but after downloading into the computer and I noticed the tail of a second bird on the far side.  Most of the time they battle over the feeder, only allowing one bird to feed at a time, however this morning I think they were too desperate for their fix to fight.   

Birds of the Day

We confined ourselves to the house yesterday due to the extreme cold and snow, which meant I did all my birding from the comfort of our kitchen looking out through the sliding doors to our backyard feeders.  I took ninety photos, but here is a selection of possibly the top three. Click on photos to enlarge. 

A male House Sparrow puffed-up against the cold.

A young male Red-wing Blackbird, an unusual visitor.

A female Northern Flicker who spent most of the day turning over leaves on the ground, took a turn at the suet feeder.

And It's Still Cold!

This pair of Lesser Goldfinches came to our birdbath around noon yesterday.  The male seems to display surprise and shock at the slippery semi-solid surface, while the female appears to be holding back waiting to see how it plays out. The water had already been thawed out several times as my wife Jeanette packs out hot water many times a day trying to make it possible for the birds to get a drink of water.  Her sister referred to her yesterday as “Saint Francis of the Bird Bath”, and as a matter of fact Jeanette’s middle name is “Frances”.

Salem Audubon Nature Reserve

I got to work with this motley crew of volunteers yesterday removing invasive English Ivy at the Salem Audubon Nature Reserve. Lee Slatum, shown on the left, heads up a cooperative effort of the Chemeketans and the SalemAudubon Society to work every Wednesday morning at the reserve in West Salem. This nature reserve is only about ten minutes from my new home in Salemtowne, so I am looking forward to more volunteering and visiting the reserve to hike and bird. 

Frozen Bird Bath

This little Lesser Goldfinch looks uncomfortably cold as it appears to ponder its options upon encountering a frozen birdbath. Temperatures in the twenties this morning were the reason for the solid surface that thwarted its opportunity for a drink of water.  Jeanette soon remedied the situation by adding hot water.  The first bird to take advantage of the non-frozen surface was a House Finch who I noticed taking small sips.  

Cold Weather Protection

The forecast is for very cold weather later this week, and besides taking precautions to protect water pipes from freezing, I would suggest we all consider our fine feathered friends.  Putting up suet feeders is a good way to provide extra fat for their diet, which in turn they will burn to keep warm. We put up ours a couple days ago and had immediate interest.  First to find it were the juncos, but this sparrow has become a regular.  As a side note; we have seen this sparrow almost daily since we have moved here, and we think it’s the same one because of the unusual white feathers at the back of the neck. I think it is the common Song Sparrow and just anomaly in the plumage.