Sharp-Shinned Hawk

Sundays and Mondays are my designated weekly Project FeederWatch days. There were any number of household chores I could have tackled this day, but I chose to sit near the dining room window with my knitting projects and watch birds in the backyard instead. Of course, my new camera was within arm's reach also and I was lucky enough to be ready when this little Sharp-Shinned Hawk flew into the backyard! In the absence of bluejays -- chickadees sounded their frantic "dee-dee-dee-dee" alarm call to let all the other little birdies know that this Sharpie had arrived!

She landed in the oak tree for only a few moments before she decided to take wing again. (I LOVE the continuous shooting mode on this camera!)

My disappointment in her departure was quickly replaced with joy as she flew just a short distance to a branch in the crapapple tree about 3 yards from where I was sitting!

Right below this tree hangs a small tray feeder frequented all day long by juncos and house sparrows. I love the intensity of her gaze as she scans to make sure no little birdies might be hiding somewhere down there.

Scanning the feeders across the yard for potential meals.......

Isn't this a great shot? I was wishing there would have been a sparrow down there somewhere for her!

When no little birdies showed up, she took the time for a little preening.

But always ever watchful for any prey that might unknowingly venture into the backyard.

A little preening of the back feathers always feels good too!

And still no prey in the backyard.......

Taking a little more time for preening those back feathers and then she was gone, flying out to an evergreen in the backyard where house sparrows like to hide.

Total time elapsed for this visit was about 5 minutes, but what a treat for me to see this beautiful little raptor up close! I wished her luck in her hunting endeavors and urged her to help herself to as many house sparrows as she could manage! (The other really cool thing about this Sharp-Shinned Hawk is that I can record her visit on my Project FeederWatch checklist as a backyard feeder visitor!)

Project FeederWatch Season Concludes

April 9th marks the conclusion of the 2009-2010 Project FeederWatch season. I haven't been very faithful in my FeederWatch activities for the past few weeks, but decided since I was off work yesterday I would make an effort to watch for and document the birds visiting my backyard birdfeeders. I even filled the peanut feeder for my bluejays who rewarded me with their presence less than a minute after I'd hung the peanut wreath back outside. I know there are some people out there who like bluejays as much as I do, so enjoy these photos!

One of my fondest wishes would be to have a bluejay take peanuts from my hand, but my bluejays are much too shy for that. I even have to be careful to avoid any sudden movements near the window when I'm taking pictures from inside the house.

Although I'm not a fan of the Common Grackle, they find my backyard habitat and food offerings particularly appealing, so unless I stop filling my birdfeeders and cut down all the evergreen trees, I just try to tolerate them for a few months. If nothing else, they're interesting to watch.

And I'm always on the lookout for something unusual to show up, like a Rusty Blackbird or Brewer's Blackbird. The blackbird on the right side of this tray was a little bit different looking than the others on the feeder at the same time, but I think it was either a late juvenile or maybe a "bronzed" Common Grackle. And as much as I hate to admit it, the iridescence of their feathers is really quite beautiful.

Cardinals continue to visit the feeders throughout the day. I haven't noticed any males and females paired up yet and there still appears to be quite a lot of territorial battles taking place among the males. Fortunately (for me and my camera), this handsome male was able to enjoy a few minutes of peaceful dining at the feeder outside my dining room window.

I haven't had a chance to clean out my little backyard pond yet, but the leaves and debris still in the pond doesn't seem to bother the birds. I was delighted to see Mrs. Bluebird stop by for a visit to the pond (apparently she hasn't noticed the 6 other clean birdbaths strategically located throughout the backyard!)

The nice thing about the long FeederWatch season is that there is usually some overlapping between the winter and summer birdie visitors. I saw the little Red-Breasted Nuthatch at my feeder yesterday morning and still have a few Dark-Eyed Juncos hanging around too.

Red-Winged Blackbird is also a summer bird for us here in Minnesota. I previously recorded my first one for Project FeederWatch on March 10th. I usually think of them as grassland and wetland birds, so I'm always happy to have them come to the birdfeeders close to the house. I never get tired of hearing their pretty call and seeing that showy patch of color on the male's wings.

The Goldfinches are really starting to show their summer colors again now. He's especially beautiful in the sunshine, don't you think?

When I was editing the pictures for this post, I found this one I had taken last week when we were out looking for ducks at the reservoir. There was a Bald Eagle across the lake that had just caught and was eating this huge fish! We could see through the spotting scope that the fish was still alive and squirming around, so the eagle was really having to hold on tight to the fish and the branch at the same time. It was really neat to see this and the eagle managed to eat that entire fish in about 10 minutes.

FeederWatch Wednesday

It was great to be off work today. Last fall, when I signed up for Project Feederwatch, my plan was to watch my feeders on Wednesdays and Thursdays when I was home by myself so I wouldn't have to interrupt any weekend activities. Today was a really nice day for birdies in the backyard: sunny with very little wind, although it was still a bit chilly (see below).

It was a day that even the cardinals approved of by singing their beautiful "what cheer" song throughout the morning. I stood out in the cold with the hopes that I might be able to capture a video of the cardinal's spring-y call, but they weren't that cooperative for me (even when I tried "singing" back to them with my trusty birdJam!). So instead of singing cardinals video, I had to satisfy myself (and this blog post) with photos of some of the visitors at my birdfeeders on this FeederWatch Wednesday.

Mammals don't count for Project FeederWatch purposes, but I couldn't resist this cute pose of this chubby little bushytail. I have a total of 3 coming at different times now to feast on corn and sunflower seeds.

Quite a few mourning doves are still hanging around this winter too. Poor Mrs. Cardinal doesn't have a chance with 3 hungry doves monopolizing this small tray feeder.

House sparrows are still the most numerous feeder bird every count day. They descend in huge flocks and disappear just as quickly, making it almost impossible to get an accurate count. I think there are at least 30 in this photo.

Two American Crows showed up for the count today also. Their feathers are so beautiful and sleek and while they prefer the dog food I sometimes put out in the tray feeders, this one seems to be OK with feasting on corn and sunflower seeds instead.

I love the little juncos! They so scrappy and fun to watch. They especially like white proso millet and are more than happy to scratch around for their favorite seed on any flat surface, including this old tree stump that doubles as a bird feeder.

There's cracked corn in this birdseed mix I put on the stump feeder too, so a hungry mourning dove isn't about to pass by the feast either!

Here's a cute shot of a "one-legged" junco perched in the crabapple tree right outside the dining window. On chilly Minnesota mornings, it's sure nice to have a built-in "down" jacket to warm up your little birdie toes!

I've been putting a hull-less seed blend in the window feeder (in addition to peanuts for the bluejays) and this sometimes attracts birds that I normally wouldn't see this close to the house. These little goldfinches love the sunflower hearts that are in this seed blend. As you can see, there is still no evidence of any bright yellow summer plumage yet. Oh well, it's nice to dream of spring anyway......

I Loves Me Some Bluejays

November 18th marked the official beginning of my Project Feederwatch season for 2009-2010. I didn't participate last year, but decided to try it again this year hoping that I might have more time to watch based on my part-time work schedule. Plus, the hours I record watching my birdfeeders count as "citizen science" credit to maintain my volunteer Master Naturalist status (so it's definitely a win-win all the way around!)

I haven't had any outstanding birds show up at my feeders so far this year -- probably due to the fact that this November is going to go down in the record book as the second mildest since weather record keeping began for Rochester. The birds are still finding plenty of natural food, but I'm sure once we return to our normal Minnesota winter weather and get a couple inches of snow on the ground, the activity around my backyard birdfeeders will pick up.

But no matter what the weather, I can always count on my faithful, opportunistic, and hungry bluejays to put in an appearance. I got the tray stuck up on my dining room window again and was amazed to see that the bluejays found the peanuts literally within minutes of my filling it.


I know there are plenty of people who despise bluejays, but I am not one of them. I love their brilliant blue colors and the fact that they always seem to have something to say and usually in the loudest voice possible. I love that they have so many different calls and aren't afraid to scream a warning when the Cooper's Hawk comes soaring into the backyard -- probably saving countless lives of the smaller birdies hanging around my feeders.


My bluejays have never met a peanut they didn't like! But usually they have to go through almost all of the peanuts in the tray to decide which one they like best. The bluejays coming to my feeder usually take one peanut and fly away to cache it somewhere in the backyard--under an evergreen, in the garden, or just stuck down into the grass with a leaf covering it. I'm really not sure whether they have the ability to remember where they hide the peanuts, especially based on the number of whole peanuts I found last spring when I tilled up the garden!

I'm looking forward to my feederwatch season this year and especially the chance to just sit and watch bluejays. Yesterday morning there were several bluejay families convening in the trees outside the dining room window and I counted 14 at one time -- a new record for my backyard!