The Battle of the Sparrows Part 2

The House Sparrows were back in both boxes! One nest was barely started, and the other was mostly done. I was intrigued by the materials used as I carried them to the trashcan.

House Sparrow nest:
mostly straw (I found the source on the ground)
bits of fuzz
piece of string
several feathers (brown and large, remids me of chicken feathers!)

These birds are so crafty; I just wish they'd use their skills to nest in a place other birds cant!

SNOW!!!

We southerners keep thinking the weather will go from winter to summer! There have been several snow flurries today--it is so beautiful. The snow isn't collecting or anything, and there havn't been reports of ice on the roads. But you would think a major catastrophe had happened if you looked at my facebook feed! People are complaining about the snow, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is normal. Apparantely we dont know our own state's weather patterns, even through decades of experience.

The birder loves a random snow flurry: it sends the birds scrambling to get seeds from the feeder! I have a couple titmice who are keeping well-fueled right now.

When the temperatures drop, birds love feeders even more than usual. Some may prefer to find their own food, but when it snows, they put those preferences aside. You can especially get some new visitors by placing high fat-content foods outside, like suet.

I guess it's equivalent to us wanting a mug of hot chocolate when we see snow!

Sparrow wars

I'm waging a war against sparrows. Not sparrows in the Embirizidae family, the mysterious stripey ones who hide in bushes and live in rural areas. I'm annoyed by the one Passeridae sparrow that lives in the US: the House Sparrow. This one is not native and has taken over habitats, to the detriment of other birds. I know I should like all birds, but I only like House Sparrows when they are the only ones around. Unfortunately, this happens a lot in my suburban home :( My mother-in-law has two bluebird boxes up. The sparrows are determined to steal them, so I am determined to steal them back! It is unlawful to disturbe bird nests, but House Sparrows are not under this protection because they are considered introduced and nuisance birds. (Wouldn't it be fun to be on the committee who labels things "nuisance"?) My goal is to keep an eye on the boxes and remove nests built by the sparrow. The nest built by the bluebird has different materials and a different shape than that built by the sparrow. I was taught this by a lady who kept up a lot of bluebird boxes on her extensive property. The eggs of the sparrow even look different, and she's removed them too, in order to give the bluebirds a chance to jump in. One time she was late checking and sparrow eggs had hatched. She didnt have the hear to hurt the nestlings! A sparrow's nest is constructed with a crazy assortment of materials, like stickes, grasses, feathers, trash. The bluebird uses almost exclusively sticks, and they are all similar in size. The sparrow nest uses more space in a birdbox. It piles up the back and top, sometimes coming over far enough to make a tube to go down to where the eggs are. A bluebird confines his nest to a regular bowl shape in the bottom half of the box. If I see the starts of a sparrow nest, I will remove it and throw it in the trash. If I toss it on the ground, the birds will just transfer it back to the box and I wont have slowed them down enough! I hope the sparrows get so frusterated they nest somewhere else! I hope the bluebirds are ready to move in at the first chance!

I'm back; will the breeding birds ever be back?

This winter has been very cold. I live in a new place and feel like I'm far away from the birds :( I'm in a city, and my homeowners association wont let me put up any bird stuff except for on my tiny patio! Are there any birds who live in this strange urban world??? I have a secret to draw birds to my feeders, and his name is Colonel Mustard. Not the Clue character, but a budgerigar who is quite sociable. He's discovered the windows that look on the bird feeders. There's a mockingbird pair that came to investigate a block of suet during one of our uncharacteristic freezes. The male, I presume, felt threatened by Colonel Mustard's presence (on the other side of the window pane), and tried to scare him away. Colonel Mustard just wants friends, being the gregarious parrokeet whose ancestors swarmed in flocks over Australia. He didn't think the mockingbird was intmidating in the least. I have never before gotten so many close looks at mockingbirds, as they aren't interested in most feeders. Mr Mockingbird has been back every day for weeks now. My window is getting scratched up. Colonel Mustard is finally getting exercise. Or is he taunting the wild bird? I wouldn't put it past him to be a bully. He does routinely puff up his head!

stumpy

there's a chickadee w/o a tail! dad says, "i'm going to call him stumpy" we've been seeing him regularly this last month, visiting the feeders just like nothing was wrong.

but i know its got to affect him! tails are very important to birds. they provide lift, stearing, and breaking for a bird's flight. they provide balance for the acrobatic chickadee. but this little guy doesnt seem to have a problem! he must be very clever to compensate! i think this is just a sign of diversity that may not be so essential to life, but instead exists for diversity and to show creativity.

he's so cute!!! chickadees are so round anyways, like a little bouncy ball. now he looks so much more like a little ball!

today i saw...

a sharp-shinned hawk! i never see those! as i walked up to my house, he was sitting in the big oak by the bird feeders. the feeder regulars were, needless to say, MIA. the tiny hawk looked at me nervously and bobbed his tail. he eventually disappeared into the woods, and the songbirds were free to feed in safety once more.

so i guess i'm feeding more than just songbirds??

:P

today i saw...

today i saw a red-tailed hawk, sitting atop a cedar tree. and he was on the very tippy-top! like the star on top a christmas tree!