Fall Birdwatching

[pameladean]

I don't know if it's the Niger thistle in the bird-feeders, the fact that I am regularly up and about much earlier than I have been for the past few years, or mere variation in the behavior of the birds, but we are actually getting Confusing Fall Warblers coming through right now. In addition to the unidentifiable warblers, we have about a dozen ruby-crowned kinglets, at least two black-and-white warblers (they walk headfirst down tree trunks and I was glancing at them from a distance and thinking that they were nuthatches, but they are much less stocky; in any case, we may have had them before), and what I think, though I'm not sure, are common redpolls. I also wonder if the common redpolls are the chunky finch-beaked reddish birds that dreampark saw on her bicycle rides earlier this year.

I think I've also seen some goldfinches. It's not the greatest time for birdwatching, even with binoculars. The places the birds like to haunt are against the southern sky, which has the sun in it; the leaves are still mostly on the trees; and these birds, especially kinglets, tend to flutter and move around a lot.

But I am cheered to see them.

Comments

from an email

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

the flighting unknown birds.. it is fall and the birds are moving.

Which for me are many birds, unknown. It is a little early yet, but I put some bird seed out this weekend because I had a sudden yen for chickadees. Which came, and for the first time this fall my cardinal pair.

I sometimes wonder how they know, and come so quickly. Bird radar? Lookouts? The avian grapevine? Some type of group memory? My reputation getting around? I have this day dream that they sit in their summer homes over what is the feathered version of tea gossiping about the thistle headed lady who manages chez angela ;)

Re: from an email

[pameladean]

I feed them all the time, because I am a softy.

I think they are always on the lookout for food, and know it when they see it. But gossip does play a part, I am sure, how could it not?

P.

Re: from an email

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. They must tell one another, or at least watch one another.
This summer I visited my friends in Colorado (the reason I didn't see Mike) but anyway, they had about 5 hummingbirds fighting for dominance on one of the feeders. They were funny as all get out.

In my own neck of the woods, I have noticed Geese flying by at work. I think they are attracted to the pond at the local park. They are noisy things.

At the place where I volunteer I see all sort of waterfowl. Besides the usual ducks, we have Black crowned night herons, egrets, and more. I used to see all sorts of birds at my home because I had a feeder, and water but since I stopped that now I mostly just see Jays, cardinals, sparrows and the like.

Re: from an email

[pameladean]

There's a book about how ravens tell other ravens about food sources, but I'm spacing the name.

I love hummingbirds. They are so pugnacious. We had two come through this fall, but by the time I got out the hummingbird feeder, they had gone on their way.

It's funny, I first saw black-crowned night herons at the bird sanctuary at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, but it turns out we have them in Minnesota, too. I've never seen one here, though. They have great attitude.

Water alone will lure lots of birds, if you don't have time to do the whole feeding thing. I couldn't do it if I didn't work at home.

P.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! Not everyone gets their own personal visitation from the Confusing Fall Warblers (a registered trademark of Roger Tory Peterson? I've always loved those pages of dull brownish-gray birds with yellowish bellies).

I saw a monarch butterfly fluttering its way down the middle of Broad Street today, just in front of the Union League. To help you visualize this feat, here is a photo of the Union League, seen from across Broad Street:

http://static.flickr.com/55/139927132_a2294f34ba.jpg

[pameladean]

Wow, yes, that seems a very unfriendly place for a butterfly. Same basic color values as a monarch, though!

P.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Heh. Aren't "Confusing Fall Warblers" the natural state of things? I have these "greenery yellery" birds that fly through, that won't sit still for me to count their wing bars or verify their eye rings or tape their voices in order to distinguish between the different versions of warblers. Not to mention vireos. But it is, as you say, cheering to see them.

[pameladean]

Yes, they are, but we don't usually get them right in the yard. They are not confusing in the spring because they have their spring plumage on.

Vireos are terminally confusing, in my opinion, regardless of the time of year.

P.

[marileeann.livejournal.com]

We're not having Confusing Fall Warblers this year. At least, not yet.

Jim found a dead bluebird in the chimney cleanout last weekend, which really surprised me. They're all over around here, but I only see them in the open fields; never once in our yard. How did one end up in the chimney?

At noon today I looked out at a gargantuan robin just sitting in the bird bath. Sitting. Not fluttering. (Eventually there was fluttering, but not for quite awhile.) Three others were playing grabass by the cotoneasters, and 3 or 4 very blue bluejays were on the far bird feeder. The ground around the near bird feeder was alive with slate colored juncos. So, so many.

The goldfinches are already all olive colored, here. Not a speck of gold to be seen in the assemblage.

We had a family of hummingbirds all summer. The two juveniles would just perch on the bird feeder for long minutes. Cute little buggers. One even waited on the lid of the feeder (I wish I had seen this) when Jim went out with fresh nectar for them. It was inches away from him, patiently waiting until he filled it and hung it back up.


Some birds are very nearly human, aren't they?

[pameladean]

The bluebird is a mystery to me, too. Unless it was ill and confused.

We don't have our juncoes yet. I thought I did see one (it's early; they tend to arrive right in the middle of October), but so many small birds have pale undersides, and the light wasn't too great.

I've never had Confusing Fall Warblers right in my yard before. It's stunning.

Oh, how splendid that you had an actual family of hummingbirds! We have them coming through, but they don't seem to like the general area for nesting.

As for the very nearly human, yes. Really, I think almost any creature that isn't inclined to eat people will seem more and more human as it interacts with people. We share a lot of genes in common, after all, even with fruit flies. I read an account of some of the original research on fruit flies, and at some point one of the researchers said, "They're people! Little people with wings!"

P.

[pameladean]

I should have said, "will seem more and more human to the people it's interacting with." The fruit flies didn't behave any differently than they ever had, except where their genes were tampered with, but the greater knowledge gained made the researcher say that.

P.