On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s Albatrossity Monday!
We also have a day at the museum with ema and we complete two series – the Captain C Road Trp and Winter Wren in Istanbul! Thanks to both of you for the series!
Albatrossity
Settling into winter birding mode. I will have some posts from the fall here in Flyover Country, but for now I will spend a couple of Mondays on the birds of winter. The hernia in the polar vortex that hammered the country in early January brought 15+ inches of snow to my town, the most since some long-forgotten day in January 1900. That meant that 1) I was not going anywhere for a while, since snow removal of that much snow can last a spell, and 2) bird numbers and activity at the feeders and birdbath was intense. I counted 20+ species from the kitchen window in the days after the storm moved on. Here are a few of those.
Basically, it snowed all day Sunday 1/5 and into the next day. Shoveling the driveway and clearing the deck were the primary activities those days. On Tuesday 1/7 the wan January sun reappeared, and I kept busy replenishing food and water on the deck. We had lots of Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) eating the seeds tossed onto the deck, including this male Oregon Junco (J. h. oreganus) who had apparently lost his tail and was regrowing the entire thing. It made for an odd look, but he seemed plenty feisty and hungry. Click here for larger image.
Another visitor to the seed hoard was this Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca). I’ve only seen this species in the yard a couple of times in the past dozen years, but it started visiting that week and is still a regular sight on the day that I am writing this. These are skulking ground-feeding birds, so they can be hard to see and to photograph. Having one of these foxy beauties out in the open was a real treat! Click here for larger image.
The suet feeder is basically a log with 4 holes drilled into it; I stuff suet into the holes and hang it up under a squirrel-proof baffle. In the winter I have to replenish the suet every 7-10 days. It is very popular with the Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus), including this handsome male. Click here for larger image.
Another common woodpecker in the yard, year-round, is the Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). We have mostly the yellow-shafted versions here, but a red-shafted bird or two might visit the yard in the winter. This male was ready for his close-up. Click here for larger image.
The Downy Woodpeckers (Dryobates pubescens) also appreciate the suet, and they wait their turn until the larger species have had their fill. Click here for larger image.
We have always had Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) in the yard, but in our early time here, they did not often visit the feeders. That changed when I added a small tray feeder, and now they are regular deck visitors, gobbling down lots of seeds before flying off to cache them somewhere. Click here for larger image.
American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) are not quite as striking in the winter as they are in the summer, but they can still brighten up a snowy day. Click here for larger image.
White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) are pretty common in the brush-piles and thickets here in the winter, but I rarely see them at our feeders. However, if we have a snow that stays on the ground for more than a couple of days, they show up here to help with seed cleanup duty. Click here for larger image.
Like the flickers, Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) come in two versions; the eastern subspecies, aka Myrtle Warbler (S. c. coronata) which is the expected type here, and the western subspecies, aka Audubon’s Warbler (S. c. auduboni). Also like the flickers, the two subspecies can mingle their genes, leading to interesting intergrades (not hybrids, which is a term reserved for inter-species mingled offspring). This is an intergrade, the yellowish throat and prominent white wingbars bespeak some Audubon’s ancestors. Click here for larger image.
This is a typical Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler in these parts, showing off its fine white throat. Click here for larger image.
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sab
After a month of snow, we are hoping the snow melts this week.
Of course that leaves a month of dog poop to clean up. Dog is already reluctant to walk in the yard. Cats, with indoor litter boxes, are already sneering at her.
I love these bird photos so much.
We just moved last year. Left our bird feeders behind in good hands. Since we are in our seventies we are wary of training a new generation of birds here to expect to be fed. But I miss the birds. And the squirrels. I guess I will use avian flu as another reason not to do it.
sab
Old house we had sparrows and cardinals all winter, robins and blue jays all summer. Also seasonal grackles and starlings. And chickadees and juncos and titmouses and brown creepers.
Princess
Lovely
J.
Fabulous photos, as usual. Love the fox sparrow and the color on that blue jay is wow!
SteveinPHX
Thank you for the bird photos. Starts Monday off on the right foot!
p.a.
Yes, what comment #5 said!
stinger
Gorgeous!
Albatrossity
@sab: No need to be wary of feeding birds; the food they get from you is supplemental to the food that they already can find in nature. Several studies have shown that typical feeder birds are not dependent on feeders at all. If you provide food, they will eat it. If you don’t provide food, they get along just fine, both from an individual perspective, and from a population perspective. Humans feed birds for their own enjoyment; the birds have been getting along fine without us for eons.
So go ahead and feed them; we all need some joy in our lives.
Geo Wilcox
@sab: Bird flu does not seem to affect the passerines and corvids like it does water birds, raptors, and domestic poultry. I do a citizen scientist project for Cornell called Project Feeder Watch, in my 25th year of counting winter birds at my feeders! Since West Nile devastated my birds here in rural IN, they have bounced back nicely. We turned our 22.6 acre farm land into forest and meadows so during the summer months I have almost no birds at my feeders, but come fledging season, I get lots of parents teaching the kids where to find that sweet winter stash of black oil sunflower seeds.
Betty
Handset set of birds. Mr. Junco is saying, “You go with the tail you got, buddy.”
laura
Northern Flickers are my favorite birbs- love them polka dots! And that foxy birb is a stunner.
MazeDancer
@Geo Wilcox: How do you get birds to eat Black Sunflower Seeds?
Mine have stopped.
Tried different bags at different feeders. Also spread on the ground. They do not like.
They love Nut & Berry. But my wallet does not.
Sometimes the deer come and clean up at night, but not always.
Also must add, wonderful photos as always.
arrieve
Wonderful as always. I am feeling inordinately proud of myself because I identified all of them except the warbler. Warblers are too small, too fast, and too similar for me to ever get great at ID-ing them.
MCat
Thank you! What lovely birds. Such little cuties.
Madeleine
The light in these pictures is striking, especially showing the colors of the red bellied woodpecker and the bluejay. I wonder if the snow is assisting the sun. (Norwegians appreciate the brightening effect of sun on snow a friend told me long ago. Changed my perception of snowlight.)
WaterGirl
Is it just winter coats, or are there several chunky birds in this week’s post?
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Chunky birbs are best birbs.
Miss Bianca
Your photos are just breath-taking, love ’em all, especially the “grumpy birbs”. Thank you!
Albatrossity
@Madeleine: Yes, snow cover on a sunny day can enhance colors remarkably!
@WaterGirl: They are all fluffed up since it was cold. They could be chunky, but I didn’t ask. I figured that would be getting into dangerous territory!
Elizabird
@Watergirl: The birbs are not chunky. The pest-squirrels are chunky.
sab
@Albatrossity: @Geo Wilcox:
Thank you for the info.
sab
@Elizabird: Our squirrels were
pestpet squirrels. Squirrel/ bird feeders. We also got rabbits under the feeders.