Great Week for Back Yard Birding

This has been a great week for old friends returning home and a few new visitors tagging along as well.

Things started off nicely, a few warblers passing through and some back on territory, the Northern Parula was the first to really start singing followed closely by the Black-throated Green Warbler, two species that nest within ear shot. Now that we’ve been living here for almost 20 years, we’re starting to see changes in the breeding population, at first it was the Common Yellowthroat that was the most common nesting bird, some years we’d have 4 different pairs nesting within earshot. Lately it’s the Northern Parula who has taken over the air waves, I’m glad to see the parula, but do miss the yellowthroat, hopefully the change is because the shrubs we planted have become trees, favoring the new over the old and the Common Yellowthroat has simply moved up the road to it’s preferred habitat.

Our resident Merlin noisily announced his arrival home, warning all the locals to be on their toes or else become dinner. I love this little falcon, he’s like the Jack Russell terrier of the raptor world, taking on any threat that comes his way with no thought of the consequences. I once watched a Peregrine Falcon and a Merlin noisily escort an Eagle away from the area where they both nest. Once the Eagle was far enough away the Merlin turned his sights on the falcon and chased him back to the river. Merlins frequently take on a Mourning Dove, and win, a bird nearly it’s size. They certainly learned how to use surprise to their advantage, and can usually be seen perched on a tall spruce tree across from our house. When there’s something of interest at the feeders, the Merlin dives around the corner of the house at incredible speed in hopes something is a little slow at finding cover. If nothing is there he simply circles the house and returns to the tree. If something does jump the wrong way, there will be a short chase and the Merlin either returns to the hunting perch or to the nest with the next meal. The chase never lasts very long, unlike the similar looking Sharp-shinned Hawk who will chase it’s prey around trees and through bushes, the Merlin relies on surprise and a short burst of speed.

When on this mission he seems to have tunnel vision, focusing only on the job at hand, much like our Jack Russell, I’ve stepped around the corner of the house and have felt the wind from the Merlin in my hair more than a few times. It’s so quick I don’t even have time to duck.

This morning, our resident Peregrine Falcon flew over, the entire yard quieted, all the birds retreated to nearby bushes, even the Ravens showed their respect. The Peregrine is the one larger raptor who the crows don’t seem to bother, let the similarly sized Goshawk cruse the yard the same way and the crow noise would drown out traffic. For the Peregrine it’s just quiet mummers from the trees.

We’ve also had visits from the expected sparrows and some not so expected like the White-crowned Sparrow, but this guy is more common passing through this year so you may have seen one too, and the Tree Swallows have finally chosen a house and are nest building. This week also marked the return of our first hummingbird, right on time, later than last year though, and late considering there were sightings a month earlier in Halifax.

The highlight of our week came last Friday, while standing in my favourite birding location, (drinking morning tea over the kitchen sink) we noticed a Baltimore Oriole eating the grape jelly. This year I was told repeatedly I needed to buy this special “BirdBerry Jelly” and “enjoy breakfast with the birds!”, well I finally gave in and bought some and low and behold I got the first oriole I’ve had in several years. I was thinking wow, this stuff really works, but now the orioles (we have more now) are on the oranges, hummingbird feeders and suet as much as the jelly. It’s good jelly; all natural, so sweet it made my fillings vibrate, (of course I tried it), but it’s not magic, it doesn’t really work any better than the stuff we always feed, but it is squeezable, that’s convenient.

The highlight if my week came that morning while I was watching for the oriole to return, I even put my glasses on, which I really ought to do more often. I noticed a different coloured bird the shape of a Blue Jay in a tree with several other jays. I was thinking it’s just the way the sunrise is reflecting off it’s breast, when I got my binoculars it turned out to be a female Northern Cardinal, the first one (and only second ever) we’ve had in 15 years.

I went to pick up some sunflower seed as my feeders were very low but the black oil seed was sold out and I was in a hurry so I bought a bag of mixed seed (and snuck it to the car in case anyone saw me), there was some sunflower but mostly millet and junk. I dumped the entire 50 pound bag on two platform feeders and the ground, thinking the cardinal would be able to find enough sunflower to keep her happy until Monday. Well, you sure see the pecking order when the feed is all in one place, the Blue Jays came from everywhere and gobbled down the sunflower, then the doves and sparrows were allowed to clean up the millet, the rest will likely attract rodents or sprout as nothing is eating it. The main thing is though, that I had enough sunflower spread around the yard and in bushes to keep the cardinal here until I got back with another load of black oil sunflower.

This was an extremely birdy week for us, and it showed when I was reading the online version of the Times and Transcript, I saw the head line “Ground swallows house”, I first thought, What’s a “ground swallow”. They must mean Bank Swallow. I wonder what their house looks like. Should I be building a few?

I have to learn that sometimes it’s just not about birds.