July 29, 2007 at 4:15 pm (Steller's Jay)
Surprisingly, one of the more elusive visitors we’ve had has been Steller’s Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri). In other locales, they just seem to be a pest at times. Around here, it seems they’re rather shy and unusually well behaved. Usually, when we have corn out, they’ll forage along the ground. But today, this one discovered the feeder.
Wisely, he chose a time between the competing waves of finches, sparrows and the flickers vying for the prime spot on the feeder. A bit shy, he wouldn’t pose and show his face to me, but still they are beautiful birds. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing a little more of him.
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July 29, 2007 at 4:05 pm (General, Northern Flicker)
Over the last few weeks, a relative abundance of available summertime food coupled with our reduction in the amount and number of feeders we’ve made available has reduced the number of our visitors quite a bit. All that seems to be changing though. This morning and afternoon there has been a flurry of activity in the yard at a level not seen since springtime.
We’ve been absolutely swarmed by dozens of sparrows, house finches, goldfinches, black-capped chickadees and at least three northern flickers on the feeder, often at the same time. Today, a juvenile flicker spent quite a bit of time foraging in the yard as did a pair of robins and literally dozens of sparrows. Its good to see more activity and a broader diversity too.
Still the repeated visits of the flickers on the feeder was one of the highlights of a busy summer Sunday afternoon.
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July 15, 2007 at 12:42 pm (General)
Its been about a month since we first heard about the salmonella outbreak and made adjustments. If the goal was to reduce the concentration of birds around the feeders to reduce the likelihood of transmission, we’ve achieved our goal. Reducing the number of feeders, the amount of feed in the feeders and letting them run completely dry for a few days has certainly reduced the number of birds in and about the yard. There still seem to be quite a few in the neighborhood foraging, so I think the strategy is working to spread them out. On top of that, its been relatively hot and dry of late, so that should help too.
Its a bid sad not to see the flutter of activity we were seeing in spring time, but all things equal, its probably better for the birds until the outbreak subsides. We haven’t seen any sick or weakened birds, and so I’m fairly optimistic that things will contain themselves over time.
Also, with the reduced activity and a few other technical challenges, we’ve had the birdcam offline for a bit. Hopefully, that’s all behind us too.
With the hot and dry weather though, keeping the bath clean has been more of a challenge. We have become a frequent stop for neighborhood crows who have a penchant for dunking whatever they find in the bath to soften it before eating. Who knows where they find this stuff, but one afternoon we found most of a hot dog bun bobbing in the birdbath. Must be barbecue season.
We’ve been seeing baby Robins lately with the parents feeding them near the bath. They are still quite unafraid and curious but we haven’t managed to get any decent pictures yet.
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