Q. I’m new to birding and to the area, what could I expect to see around here and at my feeders throughout fall and winter?
A. This is a prime time to be seeing increased numbers of the regular birds and even spot a rarity or two. Birds are on the move for a few reasons, some are migrating south, but this time of year there is also a “reverse” migration: that is some birds that don’t usually come into our range will head north and hang around a while before leaving for their wintering grounds.
Another phenomenon is post breeding dispersal which is natures way of preventing inbreeding, some of these species may overshoot their normal range and show up in your back yard.
And still others will be showing up in greater numbers now that the stress of nesting and defending territory has passed, and don’t forget all those first year birds. We are seeing chickadees in greater numbers, they’ve let down their guard and are traveling in loose flocks in search of food.
Chickadees are known for their food finding abilities and it’s not just ornithologists who’ve noticed this, other birds have caught on too. Migrating and local birds will seek out and follow chickadee flocks and cash in on their skills.
So if you’re out birding or in the backyard and hear chickadees, take a moment to check out every bird, Boreal Chickadee, nuthatches, woodpeckers, creepers, warblers, kinglets and vireos hang out in these chickadee flocks.
Some birders will “pish” or even play a tape of chickadees mobbing a Saw-whet Owl
to attract chickadees then sit back and watch for what else might come to investigate what they’re scolding.
There are some finch on the move, I’ve already been hearing and seeing Evening Grosbeaks (they’re part of the finch family) around Albert County, Purple Finch are showing up along with some American Goldfinch and Pine Siskins. The Winter Finch Forecast for 2010-2011 predicts a Common Redpoll invasion, I’m sure they put a lot of science to work to come up with this, but redpolls usually follow the every-other-year visiting schedule, so that’s no surprise. Redpolls eat the seeds from white birch which had a poor crop in the north this year, that means they’ll likely be coming south to enjoy our wild seeds and to take advantage of our nyjer and black oil sunflower feeders.
The Downy and Hairy Woodpecker are two common visitors but we may have five or more other species around and possibly even coming to suet. The Pileated Woodpecker is common; depending on where you live, once you learn it’s call and drum you might be noticing it every day. The American Three-toed Woodpecker and Black-backed Woodpecker are around in winter but unlikely to show up at feeder yards. The odd Northern Flicker stays for the winter, and every now and then we have a mini invasion of the Red-bellied Woodpecker and even more rare and more mini (or is it minier?) invasion of the Red-headed Woodpecker. When these last two occur they do come to feeders, enjoying a bit of everything…. sunflower, peanuts and suet.
Right now we have a very friendly White-breasted Nuthatch and a secretive but predictable Brown Creeper. I smear peanut butter on the side of his favourite tree and he likes raw suet, so when I hear him I know where to look.
I’m anxiously waiting for one of my most anticipated visitors of the fall, the Gray Jays should be showing up soon to begin storing food for the winter. They follow me around the yard because they know I have a bag of peanuts or small cubes of peanut butter suet in my pocket. I haven’t tried to hand feed them, but I’m sure I could. They often land on things I’m holding, like branches or lengths of steel I’m painting.
A few of the summer sparrows may hang around in winter and maybe even a rarity will show up, but the most common winter sparrow is the American Tree Sparrow, they’ll be feeding along side Dark-eyed Junco and if you’re lucky Snow Buntings.
I’m sure I missed lots of birds, drop me a line to tell me what you are seeing or what you’ve seen in previous late fall, early winter seasons.
Q. I walk along the river with my small dog and I have cats, should I be worried about the eagles?
A. I too have a small dog and I never give it a second thought. I watch eagles cruise up and down the shore line and in 18 years have never had an eagle even take a second look at my dog(s). I have heard stories, questions and concerns but haven’t found any evidence of hawks, owls or eagles taking small pets. It’s usually cats that I hear about, I was at a presentation by a New Brunswicker who studies and bands birds of prey. He said he often saw left over skeletons in nests and kept track of what each species was hunting. When I asked if he’d ever seen a cat in any of the nests, he seemed surprised by the question but said he never did.
I hear the concern often, and it’s increasing. If a cat disappears it’s very unlikely an eagle, it’s much more likely that it was hit by car or coyotes caught it (especially if it disappeared over night).
I know I’ll hear from people who saw an eagle with a dead cat, or who know someone, who was talking to someone, whose cousin’s half sister saw a cat collar hanging out of an eagles nest. If that happened, I’d love to see a picture, but I’d be more inclined to believe it was picked up as road kill, that’s what eagles do.
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