Through the Window: September 2022

Yellow Warbler ©copyright Bob Johnson and used by permissionAs the risk of avian flu declined, we looked at the information out from Vermont Fish & Wildlife and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We had been using the hummingbird feeders (they’re so territorial!); then we put out just the cylinder feeder late this month. Right away some of our “usual suspects” were at it!

September Bird List

  • Ruby-throated Hummingbird (September 17 and 23, possibly other dates)
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Great-blue Heron vocalizing and foraging in Sherman Hollow Brook
  • Barred Owl
  • Tufted Titmouse
  • Mourning Dove
  • Blue Jays (some molting)
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • White-breasted Nuthatch
  • Northern Cardinal (in cedars)
  • White-throated Sparrow
  • Yellow Warbler (in the azaleas)
  • American Goldfinch
  • Dark-eyed Junco (also by azaleas)

Also recorded: some sort of hawk, perhaps a Sharp-shinned, and (on a different day) a “fast little yellow bird, not a goldfinch”. That might have been the Yellow Warbler, seen later. Birds seemed to be using the azalea shrubs and cedar trees near the far end of the building—perhaps more than usual, and often enough that we noted it when jotting bird observations on our whiteboard.

(Bold items in this list are those species not recorded in August 2022.)

Minimal Feeding Since May

On September 22, at 3:30, we put one cylinder feeder out, hanging near the platform feeder (which has some plants growing over and in in it right now). Promptly after, birds came to it and it has remained quite busy. We wonder if the extra cover offered by these plants helps the birds feel more comfortable or have additional perches.

We have been restricting feeding due to avian influenza being present in the state. While we don’t see domestic fowl at our feeders, we do sometimes see wild turkeys, hawks or falcons, and sometimes have waterfowl on the nearby pond. We planted some butterfly- and Hummingbird-friendly plants beneath the feeders, some of which climb twine up to the feeders. There are some pots of flowers in the feeders also.


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The “Through the Window” series is an informal record of observations made by staff, volunteers, and visitors. Anyone at the Museum may add to this list. Observations are usually through our viewing window: a large window with a film covering that helps hide watchers from the birds. We have chairs and binoculars to try, a white board, and many identification guides. Outdoors, several feeders are attached on a single, 8′ steel pole. A small pond, flowers and water plants, shrubs and trees add cover and (seasonally) other food choices . You can sometimes see what we see via our webcam.

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