Go-Faster Stripes

Day 174: The Sparrows with the go-faster stripes are back in number! Also known around here as "Racing-Stripe Sparrows," White-Crowned (Zonotrichia leucophrys) looks to me like he's wearing a designer bicycle helmet. The lines of white above his eyes intersect with the one over the top of his head, meeting at the back.

I am seeing a greater number of birds in my yard this spring than ever before, although they are all familiar species. I know that Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife was concerned about salmonellosis being spread and asked that people take down their backyard feeders. I took an alternate route, one which I instituted several years ago when House Finch Eye Disease (conjunctivitis) was prevalent: disinfecting the feeders by pouring boiling water on them once a week. I had noticed HFED in some of my visitors and read up on the subject. After I began disinfecting, it cleared up in my local population within two weeks and has not reoccurred. Nor have I had any sick or lethargic birds here this year, but I am wondering if the increase of visitors to my feeders is a result of other people discontinuing feeding. I think my readers know that I would take any measures I felt necessary to protect my birdie friends.

In other news, I am experiencing problems with my computer, so I will ask for your indulgence if there is a sudden cessation of posts from me. Thanks!

How Many Angels...

Day 51: I think I may have come close to answering the age-old question of, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" The mob of Porch Parrots (Coccothraustes vespertinus, aka Evening Grosbeaks) descended on the feeders (three feeders, mind you) as soon as I laid out seed, and it was "flapping room only" here when occupancy achieved eight, four on each side. Nine or ten managed to crowd into the two pole-mounted dispensers, but many harsh "CHURP" objections could be heard even from inside the house. Although this image only shows the males, there were ladies present in this flock, unlike the group which came a week or so ago which consisted entirely of boys.

Feeder Frenzy

 

Day 342: It's a madhouse out there! The hummer feeders out front are being swarmed by beautiful little Anna's, and the feeders (three) in the side yard have a constant stream of Chickadees (both Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed, Nuthatches and that arrogant little Townsend Chipmunk who simply will NOT go in the live trap no matter what I use for bait. That said, no one seems to mind sharing. 'Dees of both species come together, the Nuthatch (possibly plural) sits side-by-side with either, and if Townsend is in town, the birds take the side opposite him. Sometimes he crawls inside to dine, the birds pecking away at the seeds he scatters out into the tray even as he scrabbles around in the interior. In the calmer moments, the sparrows, towhees, jays and juncos may also visit, although presently, they seem to be content to clean up what falls to the ground. Interim guests may include Red-Winged Blackbirds and Mourning Doves. The photos above were all taken within a ten-minute time frame: top left, Townsend; top right lower, Black-Capped Chickadee and upper, Chestnut-Backed; lower left, Red-Breasted Nuthatch; lower right, Townsend and Nuthatch. Everybody likes black-oil seed, and they're sure there's an unlimited supply at Café Crow.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

Day 320: Determined to capture a "field-guide" shot of my little Nutty friend, I settled into a lawn chair in the shade of the contorted filbert yesterday, camera on my raised knee and my finger on the shutter button. I knew I'd have to be quick. Nutty seldom remained on the feeder more than five seconds, and even then was in motion. I took lots of pictures of an empty platform, digital response even slower than my own, but eventually made this capture. I believe this is a male based on the richer "red" of its breast and underparts. That said, I may actually have a pair. Something which seemed to fly like a Nuthatch in my peripheral vision landed on the far side of the feeder while my attention was on this bird.

Now for a few cool facts about Nuthatches. First of all, look at the size of those feet! No wonder the little bugger is so good at hanging upside-down to feed. I'm sure the stubby tail gives him better balance in that position as well. Nuthatches are bark foragers, feeding primarily on insects. Perhaps they were drawn to my yard by the ash-borers which would devastate my Sitka Mountain-ash if it wasn't for the sapsuckers' diligence. Nuthatches are cavity-nesters, with a preference for holes in dead trees or dead branches. They line their nests with grass, pine needles and bark, and use finer material like feathers and fur to insulate them. They also apply a ring of resin to the edges of their entryways, the male "painting" outside while the female does the interior and, interestingly, they frequently use bits of bark to transport gobs of pitch to the nesting site, and as a tool to apply it. At the feeder, their preferred diet is black-oil seed (no shortage of that at this establishment!), and will also take mealworms and suet. They cache food for consumption later, and usually take the bigger, heavier bits first. If the items are too large to swallow, they anchor them in a crack and hammer them into smaller pieces. They are also known to associate with chickadees, another reason they may have appeared for the first time in my yard this year.

Box Of Parrots

Day 98: It's not like I only have one bird feeder out there, y'know. It's just that the Parrots know a good thing when they see one, and my house has been on their map for years. All the feeders are full of Parrots. The conversational exchanges are heated to boiling: "Get off! You're standing on my toes!" "That was MY seed!" "You already had three! It's my turn!" "Move over!" "Budge up, you're hogging the tray!" Don't get me wrong. I love my Parrots dearly, but they Do Not Play Well With Other Parrots. Jays, juncos, blackbirds, starlings...they just ignore them, but you let one Parrot move in on another Parrot's territory and the beak battles ensue. Male or female, it makes no difference. Here, the prime motivator is food, not reproduction. My job is to be sure there's enough black-oil seed to keep everybody reasonably happy. Waitaminit...is that feeder empty AGAIN?

Parrot Invasion!

Day 25: What? Who said that? Did I hear an inquiring, "Churp?" I looked up from my crocheting and saw parrots...Porch Parrots, Evening Grosbeaks, Coccothraustes vespertinus, one of my favourite birds and common spring/summer guests at the feeders. I've seen them in January (in fact, if any of you recall the saga of Friend, it took place over three weeks in January and February), but not November, and I certainly wouldn't have expected a flock. It's a small conclave, maybe a dozen or so birds, males and females, but still they made very short work of today's ration of black-oil sunflower seeds. Something tells me I'd better up the quota. Gotta keep the beaks happy!

Siskins At The Feeder

Day 118 (catch-up post): Although we really didn't need 18" of the white stuff to do the job, snow tends to bring Pine Siskins (Carduelis pinus) to my feeders in droves. Keeping priorities straight, my first job was to shovel a path so I could fill the boxes with fresh seed. While the snow was fresh, I took a standard corn broom to it (my neighbour had thoughtfully plowed my driveway), in my opinion, an easier method than shovelling when the fall is light and fluffy. As soon as I'd laid out the seed, the Siskins began appearing. Towhees and juncoes quickly picked up what they scattered, the Towhees descending out of sight into the deep "well" around the base of the pole.

As of the evening of the 8th, I still had no landline, but at least my cell service had come back to life. On my way to work, I saw repair crews at two locations and several spots where branches were still laying across the wires. On the morning of the 9th, a recording from the company claimed that normal service had been restored, but I still had no landline. I put in a repair ticket and have settled in for another wait.

Snowed Under

Day 116 (catch-up post): As many of you know already, we got a wee bit of snow during the night of February 5-6. It continued coming down heavily throughout the day, and finally at approximately 3:30 PM, the predictable happened. The power went out. I threw the breakers as insurance against surges, and sat back to wait. I am always reluctant to start the fireplace because our crews usually manage to restore order within an hour or two, but around 7, cold toes convinced me it was time. I had not yet lit it this season, so what ensued was a 20-minute battle. The tank quite a ways away, and the line needed to be charged. At long last, the pilot stayed lit and I set the flame on low, just enough to take the edge off if I sat close by, "aborigine fire" since it appeared I might be in for a long siege. I closed off the rest of the house and curled up on the couch to sleep. About 3 AM, the lights came on, flickered, went off, came on, went off, came on and seemed to be going to stay on. Power lasted only long enough for me to flip the breakers and get back to sleep, and then it went out again.

When there's no juice, I am not only without heat. I am without water because I'm on a well. That adds another level of inconvenience to what should be only a minor aggravation. Recently when we've lost power, phone service has also been disrupted. It wasn't always that way. As recently as two years ago, I could call in on my land line to report a power outage. Not now. A quick check showed that phone service, both land and cell, were also dead.

During the morning of the 6th, there were several more "on/off" incidents. The longest the power remained on was about half an hour, not enough to bring the house up to a comfortable temperature. During those intervals, phone service remained down. I cooked dinner on my camp stove and settled into what I call "Mowich Mode," hearking back to my days of winter duty at 5000' on Mount Rainier's northwest corner. I put on all my climbing woolies and stayed close to my little "aborigine fire." I had put by several gallons of water for tea, and pulled out my backpacker's espresso maker to have handy when my stash of brewed coffee ran dry. Toward evening, I built a nest in front of the fireplace, stacking fleece blankets on the floor to pad my old bones, my expedition sleeping bag on top, promptly claimed by Skunk. I didn't get to use it. About 7:30, the power came on and stayed on, but even as I write this (4 PM on the 7th), there is no phone service. Other than being colder than I like, this has been a rather pleasant escape from the political situation.

Zonotrichia Atricapilla, Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Day 196: Golden-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) prefers to dine on the ground. At my house, that means joining their White-Crowned cousins as part of the clean-up crew, gathering seed the other birds have dropped at the foot of the feeder trays. There's still plenty they miss, as evidenced by the number of sunflower sprouts currently coming up, but they do a good job on the smaller seeds. They also forage for bugs in the bark beds and in the grass, good little "gardener's helpers." Although the White-Crowned Sparrows always come to visit in the spring and summer, Golden-Crowned's tenancy is inconsistent and occasionally misses a year. This year, however, I have a greater number than usual, almost equal to the population of White-Crowned.