December 17, 2008 – 1:24 pm
Male Ruby-crowned Kinglet showing his "crown". Image via Wikipedia
Over the past few weeks Pam and I have seen many of the same birds each time we look at the feeders with the binoculars. It’s always neat to see the birds, and we don’t get tired of them. But, there is one bird that is quickly becoming a backyard feeder favorite, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
A Hyper Bird
The first thing we both noticed is that the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a hyper little bird, always flitting and twitching. All About Birds (on the Cornell University Ornithology Lab website) says that the bird is constantly in motion, flicking its wings. It’s fun to see them (if you can follow them fast enough) dart around the yard from bush to bush and finally to the feeder where they attach themselves to the suet feeder. Trying to follow them around the yard certainly is a way to build our “binocular handling” skills! Once on the feeder they are quickly scared away by any other bird in the area, but they return shortly to grab a bit of suet and fly off again.
A Winter Treat
In our area, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a Winter bird, migrating in Canada in the Summer. So, we better enjoy them while we can because when the weather warms up they will be gone for six months or so.
A Nice Color Combination
The feature that I like about them the most is the very distinct black and white bar on the wings that really stands out against the light olive color of the rest of the bird. The male also has white ring around the eye and a “ruby crown” that he flashes every once in a while. I’ve seen it once and it was only for a brief moment.
Find Your Own Backyard King
If you live in an area that the Ruby-crowned Kinglet visits, keep an eye out and you might just see one of them darting back and forth from the bushes to your feeders, especially the suet feeder. Look for a very small yellowish-green colored bird that is constantly in motion and you might just have your own “little backyard king”
December 10, 2008 – 5:25 pm
Image via Wikipedia
Sometimes, out of the blue, you are hit with a realization or observation that impacts your life in some way, however small. That moment happened to me a few weeks ago when I noticed a bird doing something we had seen it do many times in the past but this time it was different.
The Significance Of A Bird
Birds are all around us but we usually don’t notice them. But, every once in a while we catch a glimpse of one and it has some significance to us, for whatever reason. I thought it would be interesting to write a short post about significant birds we have seen as we see them. So its fitting that the first bird to make an “impact” on me in my recent incarnation of birdwatcher was a woodpecker, specifically the Pileated Woodpecker.
Seeing Woody The Woodpecker
For both Pam and I the Pileated Woodpecker reminds us of Woody The Woodpecker, the famous cartoon character that originated in the 1940’s and remained popular through the 60’s and 70’s. It is a fairly large bird and it is easy to notice, especially as it hops down the trees in your yard. That’s exactly how I noticed it a few weeks ago. It was inching its way down one of the Sweet Gum trees in our backyard heading for our suet feeder. Once it got to within 10 feet or so it made the short flight over to the feeder where it immediately began pecking away at the suet. What was funny was how the suet was literally flying all over the place as he pecked at it. I don’t know how much he actually got but it sure was fun watching 
Since that Saturday we haven’t seem him again. I’m sure he’s still around we’re just missing him. Hopefully he stops by our feeder soon.
Making An Impact
I don’t know what it was about seeing that happen on that particular day. Over the last two years we’ve lived in this house both of us have seen him do that same thing multiple times. Maybe it was the way he went about doing what woodpeckers do or maybe I was just more receptive to the nature that is all around us. Whatever it was, it made an impact on me and I was much more interested in it than the other times. I guess that’s when the spark went off and I became a birdwatcher again, and the Pileated Woodpecker became the first bird on my life list.
What About You
If you are a birdwatcher, what was your first bird and how did it impact you and motivate you to take up watching birds? If you aren’t yet a birdwatcher what would it take for you to become one?
December 9, 2008 – 12:56 pm
I thought I’d post a picture or two of our backyard so you can see what we have as far as an environment for birdwatching. Here is a view of our backyard from the driveway. 
As you can see we have a lot of trees in the yard. It is mainly a mix of Pine and Sweet gum. There are a couple of Oak and Hickory (I think) trees as well. The big tree to the right of the feeders is a Sweet gum. As far as bushes go, the primary one is Azaleas (right behind the feeders). The birds hide in there and dart out to grab some food. As you can see the ground below the feeders is covered with leaves. The brown thrashers, towhees, and fox sparrows love to kick around in the leaves looking for whatever it is they look for, mostly grubs and insects I think. The yard is fully surrounded with a fence which I think helps keep predators (cats, etc.) away.
View From Office
We use one of our bedrooms upstairs as the computer room/office. Here’s a couple of shots from there. 
We have a great view of the yard and we are able to view from here without disturbing the birds. Its great when it’s cold. We can see the whole backyard and are able to view the birds as they fly around the yard and scoot in and out of the bushes. You can see that we have another fairly large Azalea on the right side of the yard. Oh, and if you look on the sidebar and see “the Current Weather In Our Backyard” graphic, the weather station that collects all of that is mounted to the top of our deck. So literally, it is the weather in our backyard (I told you I was a bit of a geek ). The bedroom/office also makes a pretty good spot for taking pictures of the birds. Here is a sample shot.
I have a 2 year old Canon PowerShot S3 IS which is a 6 megapixel camera that has a 12x optical zoom.
This picture was taken using the full 12x zoom. At some point I may get a spotting scope and try to “digiscope” by taking pictures through the scope but for now I’m happy with the results.
Our Feeders
Right now we have 4 active feeders:
- A three tube feeder that we put a mix of black oil sunflower seed and mixed seed.
- A suet feeder that we just put various suet blocks in.
- A niger feeder that gets used a lot more in the Summer.
- A hummingbird feeder that we have attached to the deck right below the weather station. It’s very busy in the summer.
Pam and I are talking about adding another feeder but we’re not sure what to add. We want to add something that will complement our current feeder setup, not duplicate it. If any of you have suggestions we’re all ears.
What About Your Backyard
There you go, a summary of our backyard. We’d love to see some of the other backyards out there. So, post a link to a picture of your backyard or feeders in the comments and share your backyard with the world!
Also, If there is anything else you have done to improve your backyard viewing pleasure please tell us about it in the comments.
November 29, 2008 – 5:55 pm
Image via Wikipedia
Why won’t our resident (at least we think he is) Pileated Woodpecker show up on command? My parents came down to visit us for Thanksgiving and both of them are birdwatchers. My mom is more of a casual one but my dad has been a “hardcore” birdwatcher for over 50 years. My Father really enjoys walking around our neighborhood with his binoculars lookinng at all of the bird activity we have.
Open Mouth, Insert Foot
Well, we told them about the Pileated that has been visiting our feeder on a pretty consistent basis most of the Fall. My mom was excited to see it because she hasn’t seen one before. Being the cocky new birdwatcher, and subsequent expert on bird behavior that I am , I confidently said “we’ll see it, he’s almost always at the feeder, especially in the late afternoon”. In the four days they’ve been here we have kept an eye open for him but he hasn’t showed. What’s up with that? It’s not like he hasn’t been around. Heck, I just saw him last Saturday pecking away at our suet feeder. That was the first official day of my “new” birdwatching hobby and I was able to add him to my life list. Since that day he has not been anywhere in sight, and I am getting tired of my mom ribbing me by saying “I thought you said that he always shows up in the afternoon?”
Way to go Mr. woodpecker, you’re causing me great emotional distress by not showing. Keep it up and all you’ll get is coal in your suet for Christmas.
A Lesson In Bird Behavior
I’ve learned a valuable lesson about bird behavior this week and that is that they definitely are not predictable creatures. That makes the whole experience of watching them that much more of a challenge. And that’s why I am enjoying birdwatching, you never know what you’ll see. There are lots of surprises and that’s a good thing.
Watch out you sneaky Pileated, I’ll catch you at my feeder one day….
November 27, 2008 – 11:18 pm
Image via Wikipedia
Today was a perfect November day in Georgia with temps in the low 60’s and clear blue skies. My parents are in town for the holiday and my Father has been a birdwatcher for 55 of his 75 years so he was more than ready to help me identify some new birds. So, I took the opportunity to spend some time walking around the yard with him to see what I could see.
Some Skill Involved
We spent about 45 minutes walking around the yard. All around us there was activity. The problem for me was actually seeing what the birds were. I’m finding that it takes some skill to be able to get the binoculars up to your eyes and be able to see what you thought you saw before you put the binoculars up. It definitely takes some practice.
We saw a lot of birds in a short time. My “Life List” is now up to 21 species. Here’s what I saw:
- Mourning Dove
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Eastern Phoebe
- Carolina Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Brown-headed Nuthatch
- Carolina Wren
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Eastern Bluebird
- Brown Thrasher
- Pine Warbler
- Eastern Towhee
- Chipping Sparrow
- Northern Cardinal
- House Finch
- American Goldfinch
It was an enjoyable time walking around the yard with my Father. He has a ton of experience and was quickly able to get me oriented as far as what birds were what and their songs, etc. I’m getting a little better at spotting the movement of the birds and being able to get the binoculars on them but I need a lot more work at it.
All in all It was a good time. Oh, I forgot to mention that near the end of the day we all spotted a large bird sitting on our dinner table. It looked so good that we just ate it up. I think it’s called Turkey or something like that. Can I add it to my Life List?
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