 |
| Northern Cardinal and Mourning Dove in the yard |
I started this blog to find a place to publish Protection Farm Journal pieces that I have been keeping for the years that I have lived here. I have many neat stories and photographs and videos about birds. Over the next months I will post about species, individuals, and encounters with birds. This post is a primer.
In order to help learn about birds, I am linking to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology Web Site “All About Birds” with most of the species shown here.
Each bird shown here will have a link to the corresponding All About Birds pages- Each “home” page will include a link to identification, life history, sound, and video. I especially like the “sound” files and urge you to listen to them. Hearing them will help you to understand the beautiful cacophony of sounds that are part of the living landscape here at Protection Farm.
All photographs on this blog are mine, unless otherwise credited.
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
 |
Both of the above photos are of Black-capped Chickadees. They are by far the most familiar and abundant species of birds to visit the winter feeders at Protection Farm. They are fun to be around and challenging to photograph. They are playful. I try to get them to look at me, and they tease me mercilessly. They almost always turn their face away just as I am snapping a photo! These Chickadees live here year round. In the spring, summer, and fall they cheerfully follow me around when I am out walking. Small groups of them have traveled with me on long and short walks, sometimes all the way to the marsh and back. They fly next to me, perch noisily in trees and bushes as I walk by and overall seem to enjoy the experience as much as I do. In winter they delight in looking in the window at we who are warm and cozily looking out. We love to watch them and they seem very curious about us. These two-way observations can occur just about every daylight hour. Sometimes we put our faces right up to the glass and so do they. It is intimate and interesting being a few inches apart. Sometimes there is a stare downs with the cats who sit on the couch looking out. Generally the cats are pretty cool about this which took a little adaptation since the cats are seething killers.
The chickadees very vocal and have a variety of songs and calls. Remarkably these birds, like many other birds are known to have regional accents. Check out the Cornell Lab Sound Page:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee/sounds
In the winter, if the feeders are empty, they will perch in the trees near the feeders and make the dee dee dee call incessantly. When I come out to fill the feeders, I usually whistle a little jay version of dee dee dee. If they are not in the area, they hear it and come within a few seconds. They will surround me an noisily scold me. Occasionally one will land on me and eat from the feeder scoop that I am using to fill the feeders. They seem to lack patience with this part of the life.
this is an interesting article about Chickadees from Enature:
"Chickadees are Cold Weather Machines"
Last winter we were watching the feeders from inside the house on our warm couch perch when a dark shadow passed through the yard. It was a Coopers Hawk and it landed in the trees adjacent to the feeders. All of the birds in the area panicked. Several flew into the big picture window and one slowly slid down the glass into a snow pile at the bottom of the window. There it slowly tried to bury itself, in order to hide from the predator, all the while looking at me. It ended up getting away. Meanwhile I grabbed the camera and was able to snap this photo. I will post a more detailed account of this remarkable event in the coming days.
 |
| Black-capped Chickadee presses against glass as it tries to bury itself in the snow at the bottom of the window, all in order to avoid the clutches of a Coopers Hawk looking for a meal |
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
 |
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bilcolor)
 |
 |
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
This one quite literally had its head stuck in the snow until I rescued it. Post on this coming soon!
 |
Nuthatches
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-breasted_Nuthatch/id
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-breasted_Nuthatch/id
 |
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristatta)
I have had such remarkable experiences with Blue Jays, all of my life. I am particularly fascinated by their vocalizations and social life. I have an article that I am working on for early January.
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
This is a very familiar but not common winter bird at Protection Farm. It is a beautiful looking bird and has a pretty song that helps to characterize the winter outdoors. I saw the first one this season today, after the snowfall started. Didnt get a great photo, but I have some and will post them.
Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus)
Two years ago we had an irruption in WNY of these interesting winter finches. About 25 made the feeders in our yard part their winter territory. Last year they were not here at all. They breed in the far north (Northern Canada) and occassionally make it this far south in the winter. This year there is news that they are being seen all over WNY again and I look forward to seeing them again at our feeders. |
| male Pine Siskin |
 |
| probably a female |
 |
| This is one of my favorite shots of a Canada Goose. They are abundant here as in most years. These and the Mallard Ducks have colonized the creek behind the house and make a racket 24/7. |
No comments:
Post a Comment