Brightening The Landscape
November 11th, 2009
Songbird migration is winding to a close. The focus now is on the wintering species--the year-round birds, plus the far-north "winter finches" who may wander into our area in search of food. A few minutes walk from Hurdman bus station, there's a set of feeders that gets put up every winter. It's one of the best, if not the best, bus-reachable winter birding hotspots in the city. Along with the ever-present goldfinches and chickadees, there are redpolls and siskins if they're in town, in 2007/08 the suet feeder sustained an overwintering Hermit Thrush (who, it was theorized, was unable to make his migration to the southern states due to injury), and in winter 2008/09, as you may remember if you've been following along here, the seed feeders drew in three Wild Turkeys!
The feeders aren't up yet. But I took some sunflower seeds there yesterday, sprinkled them on a log, and enjoyed the show. Chickadees (who began escorting me down the path as soon as I took the baggie out) were almost instantly whizzing back and forth, then came the delicate tapping sounds from all around as they perched in trees pecking the shells open. The cardinals (a mated pair) were much more cautious, slowly, quietly making their way over, hopping from perch to perch in the underbrush.
It's a harsh landscape out there right now, bare-branched and frost-scorched. It's nice to have cardinals around to brighten it up.
1680x1050 wallpaper
November 11th, 2009
Songbird migration is winding to a close. The focus now is on the wintering species--the year-round birds, plus the far-north "winter finches" who may wander into our area in search of food. A few minutes walk from Hurdman bus station, there's a set of feeders that gets put up every winter. It's one of the best, if not the best, bus-reachable winter birding hotspots in the city. Along with the ever-present goldfinches and chickadees, there are redpolls and siskins if they're in town, in 2007/08 the suet feeder sustained an overwintering Hermit Thrush (who, it was theorized, was unable to make his migration to the southern states due to injury), and in winter 2008/09, as you may remember if you've been following along here, the seed feeders drew in three Wild Turkeys!
The feeders aren't up yet. But I took some sunflower seeds there yesterday, sprinkled them on a log, and enjoyed the show. Chickadees (who began escorting me down the path as soon as I took the baggie out) were almost instantly whizzing back and forth, then came the delicate tapping sounds from all around as they perched in trees pecking the shells open. The cardinals (a mated pair) were much more cautious, slowly, quietly making their way over, hopping from perch to perch in the underbrush.
It's a harsh landscape out there right now, bare-branched and frost-scorched. It's nice to have cardinals around to brighten it up.
1680x1050 wallpaper
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