Now we’re semi-closed (visitors welcome! But please call a few days in advance to make an appointment), we don’t have as many people watching our feeders.Blue Jay, carved by Bob Spear (photograph by Erin Talmage)Wonder which species might’ve come by and not been noticed…
Black-capped chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Dark-eyed Junco
Blue Jay
Hairy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Downy woodpecker
American goldfinch (winter plumage)
Northern Cardinal
Ruffed grouse
Pileated woodpecker (swooping over parking lot, calling on 12/27, the 2nd visit)
Purple Finch (12/28)
Naturally, we also saw the usual cluster of red squirrels and gray squirrels.
Looking forward to National Bird Day on January 5th! And keep track of our more formally collected data: we contribute to Feeder Watch.
What we noted on the white board by the viewing window.
Hairy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Downy Woodpecker
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-capped chickadee
American Goldfinch
Tufted Titmouse
Mourning Dove
Barred Owl
Ruffed Grouse
Not so many this month. It was often sunny, but as we were closed except for appointments/scheduled visitors, there were also fewer humans watching out for birds. In addition, the sunny days could’ve allowed the birds to easily feed elsewhere. And with that owl watching off and on, that might’ve been very practical!
There is a barred owl near the feeding area right now! Soaking up November sunlight, keeping eyes + ears focused on chipmunks + juncos… http://ow.ly/i/kPGk
We had a new visitor this month, and I’ll tell you who right after the monthly list of birds. A light-weight month, perhaps for weather, but more likely for the season.
Dark-eyed Junco (12/7; about 18 inches of snow fell in the night of 12/6 and the morning of 12/7)
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Cardinal
White-breasted Nuthatch
Mourning Dove
American Tree Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow (12/10, a warmish, wet and windy day)
American Goldfinch (12/17)
Common Redpolls (4 of them on 12/17)
Mammals
Red Squirrel (of course)
and an Eastern Cottontail
Coincidentally, today (posting day) is the Hinesburg/Huntington Christmas Bird Count. It’s rather foggy, actually, so not too much observed yet, I’m told. But the day is still young! (In fact, I just saw a wild turkey, because it was chuckling to itself and I looked up from typing this.)
Visitors often ask us what we feed the birds. We currently have several feeding locations: the ground (including up on some rocks), crabapple trees, and elevated seed and suet feeders. We also hang oriole and hummingbird feeders in summer.
On the ground, we sprinkle kernel corn and mixed seeds, to attract turkeys, sparrows, juncos, blackbirds, and others. Not only do we sprinkle this by the viewing area, but in the summer Bob scatters corn by the pond for resident and visiting waterfowl (although the turkeys appreciate it too).
The crabapple tree produces small, cheery-sized apples, which attracts grouse and many of the smaller birds who also visit our feeders. This tree is visible in the photo below, in the background behind the feeders. There are other crabapples and feral apples on the property (that’s another post, someday).
The hummingbird feeders are hung just outside the viewing window and another outside the front door, but those are removed for the winter. We usually see hummingbirds during the first week of May, and they typically leave the first week in September. We do keep the feeders up through most of September, to support those migrating from points north.
Our upper feeders hold (generally) black oil sunflower seed, sunflower chips, mixed seeds, thistle, and suet. These attract a wide variety of birds, from doves to jays, grosbeaks to finches, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and many more. We hang a jelly feeder for orioles in the summer also. Check out our birds at the feeder posts for records of what we’ve seen when (a click on those post titles will take you to the posts and any pictures as well).
Our webcam shows a few of our upper feeders; this image is from a sunny morning in November 2010.
Four Feeders (visible with web cam), food types labeled. The crabapple tree is the red-dotted one in the background behind the mixed seed feeder.
Our elevated feeders–the ones in the photo–are mounted on a 4″-diameter steel pole, 8 feet above the ground. The pole is set in concrete, and has a baffle beneath. We grease the pole every now and then. Most feeders are hung above the cross-bar part of the pole, although occasionally we will hang a feeder below.
Why all the elevated infrastructure? In a word, bears.
It is recommended that people in bear country not feed birds when bears are awake, especially early in the year when they are just awakening and are hungry after hibernation. For us in Vermont, this is roughly April 1 through November 1. However, as a Bird Museum, we also want to attract birds so visitors can enjoy them as we do, not to mention learning about and from them. Thus: tall, greased poles than black bears can’t knock over. (They have tried…)
