The black and white pattern along with the long tail make identification easy.

When I started bird watching I was startled to see a magpie sitting on the back of a deer.  I watched it land on the deer’s back, fly away and then land on the deer again four times.  This behavior sent me back to the books (this was before the internet) to find out why.  It seems that magpies are tolerated by the deer because the birds are removing ticks.  The magpies will eat some and then cache some for later use as many members of their family do.  The problem with this is that the ticks are stored alive and unharmed.  The ticks simply crawl away and resume their lives.

The large domed nest of the Black-billed Magpie is unmistakable.

 The nest of the Black-billed Magpie is unmistakable.  It is a large domed nest, made primarily of sticks and mud. The interior of the nest is lined with hair, grass, bark, or rootlets. The nest can take the birds up to 40 days to build.  A recent study found that the pair only spent about 1% of their daily energy to build their nest.  The female on the other hand spent 23% of her energy laying the eggs.

 As with other members of the corvidae family, the magpies will predate the nests of  birds taking both eggs and nestlings.  However this predation only makes up a small part of the Black-bill Magpie’s diet.  Most of the time the magpie will forage on the ground for insects, grains, with acorns being a favorite, small mammals and some carrion.

 When we lived in South Dakota the magpies would sometimes visit our suet feeders and our platform bird feeders.  The smaller songbirds would sound the alarm and quickly make the magpie feel unwelcomed.  They never stayed very long and we never seemed to be visited on a regular basis.  Maybe they just came in with the deer that visited our birdbath for a drink  occasionally.   :^)

Scenes like this are why we always start our day in front of the bird feeders. You just never know what is going to happen and which of nature’s wonders you will have the privilege of observing.

Reply to to the Question: This isn’t the first time I’ve got this inquiry from people who begin to use “thistle” in their feeders for finches. The dilemma happens in the terminology. What we sold you is Guizotia abyssinica, an upright, stout, branched annual plant originally out of the Ethiopian Highlands. The common name there is nigernood, which in turn translates to  blackseed. When the seed became a cash crop, and exported to the U.S., corporations changed the name of the blackseed to thistle seed to take advantage of the finches affinity for native thistle (certainly not the invasive thistle your husband is referring to.)

Later the Wild Bird Feeding Industry (WBFI) has trademarked the name Nyjer. The industry’s objective is to have the seed known as Nyjer so birders won’t mistake it with Russian Thistle. They thought a spelling adjustment was in fact recommended in order to avoid any ideas of a racial slur.

Before you buy Nyjer to use for your thistle feeder, the seed is going to be heated to 120 degrees for 15 minutes to actually sterilize the Nyjer seed. It insures that you can fill all your “thistle feeders” for the finches, Pine Siskins and Redpolls without propagating invasive seeds within your landscape.

Subsequently, your hubby is correct, Russian Thistle does indeed create tumbleweeds. Nonetheless, you should feed Nyjer seed with no need of concern.

The goldfinches and I appreciate your interest in feeding birds.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird was first described as a “spritelike bird, scarcely bigger than a good sized insect……..most unbirdlike, more like an overgrown bee.” ( Scott- 1890)  Comments like this are understandable when the Ruby-throated Hummingbird can beat its wings 53 times a second, can hover in one place and is eastern North America’s only breeding hummingbird.  How would you describe a hummingbird without using a camera?  I think Scott did the best anyone could do!

Scientists have placed hummingbirds and swifts in the same taxonomic order, the Apodiformes. This name means “without feet.”  If you observe this little hummer for a while you can see why the classification is appropriate.  These short legs prevent it from walking or even hopping like many birds do, it does more of a shuffling motion when it moves along a perch.  The only time you may see its legs are when the hummer has an itch on its head or neck.  The bird can scratch by reaching around its wing to get to the itchy spot.

When you put out a hummingbird feeder for the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, you need to be patient.  These hummers are a creature of habit, and will return to the same spot to look for the bird feeder they used last year.  If you have moved the feeder or put out new ones, they will take their time in adjusting to the newness of the situation. They will eventually adjust and come back to a new spot until you move or change something again.  Then the process will start all over again!

Next time you see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, try to describe it to someone who has seen a hummingbird before.  Try to see it’s feet.  If you are really brave, move the hummingbird feeder and see how long it takes for the little guy to find the new location!

There are two solutions to hummingbirds that try to posses a hummingbird feeder for themselves.  One is place every feeder in your yard out of sight of any other feeder.  The option we use is to offer 30 Best 1 Hummingbird Feeders along the front of our house.  The ‘bully’ cannot posses all of the feeders at one time.  While he is at one end of the house, the hummers enjoy a snack of sugar water at the other end.  We do not fill the hummingbird feeders full and always clean them every 3-4 days.   You can learn how we clean our hummingbird feeders.

Today we we lucky enough to witness a very brave act!  We had a Magnificent Hummingbird that ignored the bomb diving, hovering and buzzing of the Rufous and helped himself  to a hearty breakfast.  Several of the Rufous where just plainly enraged by this act.  But, no matter what they tried, the Magnificent was going to have his breakfast!

While I was laughing out loud at the activity in front of the porch, Tom was counting the number of feeders that had hummingbirds at them.  We had 14 feeders being used at the same time!  It seems that many other hummingbirds knew enough to use the distraction to grab a sip or two.

I have blogged about the migration the Rufous Hummingbirds undertake each year. I should realize their tenacity is necessary to their survival, but today I was really tickled that their tenacity (I still call it bullying) was held in check by the Magnificent Hummingbird!  It was a “magnificent” sight!  Pun intended.

Well, it’s that time of year down here.  As we sipped from our Southwest Canyon Bird Coffee Mug, the fall sparrow migration hit our bird feeders.  We had had a few Lark Sparrows into the recycled platform bird feeder last week.  Today the flock arrived!  We had them enjoying our bath bath and then using both platform feeders.  While we were watching them the Chipping Sparrows started filtering into the triple tube feeder.  Shortly we also had Savannah Sparrows, Lincoln Sparrows, Black Headed Grosbeaks, Blue Grosbeaks and a Green-tailed Towhee.  Most of these species seemed to prefer the platform bird feeders, but many used the various tube feeders we have scattered around the yard, especially the shy species.  Many of these species will stay with us for the winter.  Some will get their field marks back after this molt, making the ID so much easier.

We were surprised that so many species arrived at the same time, perhaps it is because we put up a new novelty crossing sign - ”Wild Bird Crossing!”

These birds reminded me of watching a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches build a nest at my folk’s house in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  When I arrived the pair were busily collecting resin globules from coniferous trees and plastering them around the entrance of  their  nest hole.  I expected the birds to carry the resin in their bills.  I was amazed that the nuthatches used what I considered a tool.  The male collected  pieces of bark with pine pitch on it and then used the bark as an applicator. The male puts the resin primarily around the outside of the hole while the female puts it around the inside. It is thought that the resin helps to keep out competition for the nest cavity and also deters predators. The nuthatch avoids the resin by diving through the hole, not perching in the entry as most birds do.

My father reported that the Red-breasted Nuthatch had fought hard to claim the nesting cavity.  He had first seen a Downy Woodpecker hammering away, trying to enlarge the hole.  The Red-breasted Nuthatch aggressively chased the Downy away after a two day battle.  Next the Red-breasted had to defend the cavity from a White-breasted Nuthatch.  It seems this pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches were particularly feisty and again won the battle.

This pair brought 3 young off the nest.  My folks were as proud as “grandparent”s could be.  In fact,  they purchased a peanut bird feeder when the young left the nest as a way to keep the nuthatches in the area.  I don’t know if the same pair stayed around, but the familiar “yank-yank” has been heard for years at my parent’s house.

 ”There’s a Western Tanager right above the birdbath.”

“How high up in the mesquite?”

“On the left side of the tree about level with the thistle feeder.  Hold on, let me find it again, it just moved.  There it is, right above the birdbath,  just go straight up from the bath until you find it.’

“I can’t see it.  Is it behind some branches?”

“It just flew down to the water.”

“Oh, you mean that tanager!  I see it now!” 

All bird watchers have been there, done that.

The Western Tanager breeds farther north than any other member of its family.  They nest as far north as the Northwest Territories of Canada.  Most of the other members of its family are considered tropical.

The Western Tanager was originally called the Louisiana Tanager.  The name may seem inappropriate as it is a rare migrant to the state of Louisiana.  When this bird was first identified what was then known as the Louisiana Purchase extended from the Mississippi River to the Continental Divide and northward to British Columbia.  As the bird is distributed over much of that territory, the name was then much more appropriate.

The red in the face of the Western Tanager is rhodoxanthin, a pigment rare in birds.  The rhodoxanthin is ingested from the insects it feeds on.  The insects acquire this rare pigment from the plants they ingest.  Other tanagers are capable of making the pigment that make their feathers red.  In this case, you really are what you eat!

Next time you see a Western Tanager, take a good look at the red and know that that “Louisiana Tanager” has been eating well!

The Lark Sparrows are still here in great numbers enjoying the platform bird feeder.  Their face pattern on this sparrow plus the fan shaped tail with the white band make this  one of the easiest to identify of the sparrows. 

 One interesting observation is that Lark Sparrows walk rather than hop across our bird feeder. If fact, hopping is only used during courtship.  During courtship a male Lark Sparrow crouches on the ground, holds his tail up at a 45 degree angle from the ground, spreads the tail feathers to show off the white tips, and then struts with its wings drooping so that the wingtips nearly touch the ground. When the female is receptive, the male gives her a small twig just before copulation.

In our area we have observed Lark Sparrows recycling old Mockingbird and thrasher nests.  I have also read reports where  the eggs and young of two species are found in the same nest, suggesting that the Lark Sparrow shares the nest with the other bird.

I will continue to report on the spring bird migration here in Portal.  Good Birding to all.

We came back to Lark Sparrows in great numbers at our bird feeders.  We had 9 in our platform bird  feeder and about 10 more on the ground under the bird feeder.  The Pine Siskins and Lesser Goldfinches are still coming into the stainless steel thistle feeder, but we have not seen the Lawrence’s Goldfinches since we got back. 

We have had a Cassin’s Kingbird into the bird bath and the warblers are bathing on a regular basis with the most common being the Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Our first juvenile Black-throated Sparrow was being fed just above our triple tube bird feeder in the mesquite tree.

The most common birds at our Best 1 hummingbird feeders have been the Broad-tailed and the Black-throated Hummingbirds.  All three of our orioles have be into the saucer oriole feeder and they have been sneaking sips from the hummingbird feeders.

We have reports of the Elegant Trogan in our canyon (see our birding map for directions)

This is a great time to visit Portal, Arizona.

Lucy’s Warblers are one of the smallest warblers and has chosen to make the desert its home, making its nest in the driest of all warbler habitats.  

Dr. J. G. Cooper discovered this tiny and inconspicuous warbler at Fort Mojave in Arizona in 1861.  He named it after Miss Lucy Baird, daughter of his associate Dr. Spencer F. Baird. 

The Lucy’s Warbler is one of only two warblers that breeds in cavities. (The Prothonotary Warbler is the other.) If using a woodpecker hole, the warbler may fill the cavity nearly to the top with debris and put the nest on top so the bird can see out.  Abandoned Verdin nests are also a favorite nesting place.

I could not find if anyone has established the size of a Lucy’s Warblers territory. However, it is not unusual to find up to 5 nests in 1 acre.  When Tom and I do breeding bird surveys, the over lapping songs make it very hard to impossible to get an accurate count on the number of males singing.

Most people spot this bird while it is gleaning insects off foliage, and its quick movements catch the eye.  Remember, if you are in the dry desert do not eliminate all warblers when trying to identify a little gray bird!   It just may be a Lucy’s Warbler!

Meanwhile, a Magnificent Hummingbird was quietly sipping nectar from our saucer hummingbird feeder.  The Black-chinned Hummingbirds chose not to challenge him.  I’m not sure why as they have done so in the past.

The Lawrence’s Goldfinch continues to come in to the thistle bird feeder.  He comes in with a flock of Lesser Goldfinches, so be sure to check the entire flock out.

We still have only the Scott’s Oriole coming into the jelly at the oriole feeder.  The rest of the orioles should be arriving soon.

Hope everyone’s bird migration is great this year.  Ours is off to a good start.

We had a Broad-tailed Hummingbird into our saucer hummingbird feeder this morning and the Cactus Wren and the Curve-billed Thrasher are fighting over the telephone pole. Both feel they  have territorial rights to this pole.  We cleaned out the nesting platform, but the Cactus Wren has started moving nesting material into it already.

The spring bird migration has started, the flowers are blooming and it is a GREAT day for nature lovers!

We also had  Mountain Bluebirds come into our Supper Dome bird feeder. If you are not familiar with the Supper Dome, it is both a mealworm feeder and a suet feeder.  We had put out some mealworms for the Says Phoebes, but phoebes weren’t fast enough.  I guess the old saying  “The early bird gets the worm” would apply.  Our new supply of mealworms came in Monday, but the poor pheobes had to find breakfast the old fashioned way-hunt for it.

With the bluebird migration on, remember to have your bluebird houses cleaned out, repaired or replaced, as territories will be established soon.  Get the mealworm feeders out and get your supply of mealworms stocked.

Remember to only put out a little nectar in your hummingbird feeder until the hummingbird migration is in full swing.  Also remember to change the nectar regularly. 

Hope your bird migration is great this year and I will let you know what is coming into our yard.

Window mount bird feeders are great for people who are home or facility bound or that wish to bird while they work in home or office.  These feeders bring the birds into easy viewing distance from inside the house.  Draw the birds of your choice with the variety of platform, suet, oriole or hummingbird window mount bird feeders.  To properly mount your feeder be sure the glass is clean and then soak the suction cups in hot water until they are pliable. These feeders will stay put!  Yet, they are so simple to remove! 

Some people have expressed the concern that window mounted bird feeders may lead to more window collision deaths or injuries for their birds.  This could not be farther from fact as the feeder breaks up the reflective quality of the glass.  The birds slow down for the feeder as they approach it.  We have far more problems with birds leaving the feeders 15 feet away from our sliding glass door on our patio when a cat or hawk passes through.  We have never had a casualty as a result of our window mounted feeders.

Window mount bird feeders are a nice solution to the problem of being home bound.  It allows a person to observe up close a variety of the local birds and keeps one’s mind sharp with the identification process.

We also have to remember that the House Sparrow and the European Starling have been introduced to the U.S. Both starlings and sparrows are cavity nesters, and both are very aggressive. House Sparrows are small enough to enter any hole that a bluebird can, and are so aggressive that they will chase away the more timid bluebird. Starlings can be excluded from bluebird boxes by using the correct size entrance hole, but will compete with bluebirds for woodpecker holes and other natural nesting cavities.

During the summer, bluebirds feed mainly on insects. In the winter, bluebirds depend on many kinds of wild berries for their food supply. However, the supply of wild berries has also decreased over the years. The few berries that remain are often stripped quickly by large flocks of starlings.Even though the bluebird population has greatly decreased, you can impact the population positively. One very important step you can take to help bring back the bluebird is to provide nesting sites by setting out a bluebird box or starting a bluebird trail. A bluebird trail is simply bluebird boxes placed along a prescribed route. In areas where nesting boxes have been put up in suitable habitat, bluebird populations are increasing. Bluebirding is a great project that people of all ages can enjoy. Many a good bluebird trail has been set up by boy scouts and other similar youth groups.

Another way to enhance your area for bluebirds is to add a bluebird/mealworm bird feeder.  These feeders have entrance holes the correct size for bluebirds, and been designed specifically so that your mealworms will not be able to escape from the bird feeder.

These simple steps will encourage bluebirds to stay around your area and help increase the bluebird population nationwide.

Chickadees will flock in the winter.  The center of a flock of chickadees contain a mated  pairs and nonbreeders, but generally not the offspring of the adult pairs within that flock. Other birds that can be observed with chickadee flocks include nuthatches, woodpeckers, kinglets, creepers,  and further south  wintering warblers and vireos.

One of the reasons other species of birds may follow chickadee flocks may be the great danger call of the chickadee.  The more dee notes in the chickadee-dee-dee call the greater the threat level.  Even species that do not have a danger call will respond to the chickadee’s threat level.

One story I have heard about the Black-capped Chickadee was about Robert Bates who trained a rehabbing chickadee to pull a string, to raise the cup, to make the cup spill a sunflower seed into his cage.

The flocks that visited my parents do not have to work quite that hard for a sunflower seed, but the acrobatic stunts they do pull make them one on my favorite characters.

The Northern Flicker is one of the few North American woodpeckers that migrates.  Flickers in the northern parts of their range move south for the winter, although a few individuals often stay rather far north.

Although flickers prefer to eat on the ground, they will act like other woodpeckers and drum on objects.  This drumming lets other flickers know that they have established a territory and that the flicker considers it priviate property.  For this reason the flicker likes to make as much noise as possible and will drum on metal objects.  One Northern Flicker in Wyoming could be heard drumming on an abandoned tractor from a half-mile away.

We are glad that the flickers stopped in for a visit, but do hope that they do not start drumming on our metal chimney pipe!

We had recently had to take an agave stalk down because we had a Loggerhead Shrike use it as a perch. But with the stalk down we had not seen him lately.

This morning when we went to fill the bird feeders, we discovered that we had not discouraged the shrike, but only accomplished moving him to the top of our television satellite dish. Now he can see all three bird feeding stations at the same time.

We can’t take down the satellite dish. He does not fly away when we try to scare him. But, we do have some neighbors worried about our sanity.  It seems that yelling and waving your arms while staring at your dish is not normal.

This shrike thinks he has outsmarted us.  And I guess we may have lost the battle, but have not given up the war.

If you have ideas, PLEASE let us know.

I have been thinking about why my grandkids are interested in bird watching and would like to offer the following suggestions to parents and grandparents.  These suggestions are for young children.  In another blog I will talk about older children.

First, you need to get them involved.  Pointing though a window and saying “Look at the pretty bird” just does not do it.  My grandson (2 1/2 years old) helps fill the bird feeders.  When we have finished filling the bird feeders and hear the birds singing, I tell him that it is their way of saying “thank you”.  If we have not filled the bird feeders, the singing is their way of saying “please”.  I don’t make an issue that he helps every day and I never interrupt a good game of stacking the blocks to do this.  I try to pick a time that he is looking for something to do.  And yes, some times the birds get fed more often than they need to, but who cares as long as the child is interested in birds right then?

We have bird feeders that are at his level.  All bird watchers have experienced “warbler neck”,  that stiff feeling that you get from looking up all day at tree top birds.  For a child a bird feeder at your level will give them “warbler neck”  We have several platform bird feeders that are at his height.  These are the bird feeders that he notices.  The platform bird feeders are outside a sliding glass door at our house, and outside a low picture window at Great Grandma’s house.  The movement of the birds catches his eye and when he knows that he filled that feeder, he is excited.  It means that we have finger prints on the glass, but really, is that something that we should worry about?

Bird Watching at Great Grandma's House. The bird feeders are at a level that helps little ones enjoy the birds

I need to remember that my grandson will not be excited about the first Green-tailed Towhee each fall, but is excited about the House Finches every time he sees them, after all red is his favorite color.  He has helped his little sisters stand up to look out the windows more than once and explained to them that “That’s my bird!”

I try to remember that if  he has spotted a particularly colorful bird, like Blue Jays in South Dakota or a Cardinal in Arizona I need to stop what I am doing for just a few seconds and share in his excitement.

I also need to remember that his attention span is still very limited and he will be off to his next project before I am ready to move on.

I think you get the idea by now.  Make bird watching fun.  Don’t make it a chore.  Get down on your knees and see their world.  You will learn that the world through their eyes is a very different place than the world though our eyes.  Enjoy their wonderment.  As every Grandma knows, childhood does not last long enough.

These thistle bird feeders will attract all three species of goldfinches,  House Finches, Purple Finches, Pine Siskins, and I have had reports of juncos and titmice regularly visiting thistle feeders.

If you have been using a thistle sock and are tired of replacing it or have problems with squirrels, the acrylic thistle feeder might be the next step up for your backyard birding habitat.

The acrylic top will provide some protection from rain and the acrylic bottom does have drain holes so that rain may quickly drain away from the seed.  This feeder also has a center seed diverter so that Every seed can be consumed.  The screen is stainless steel and allows birds to cling to it.  There are no perches, but this will help with some problem birds such as the pigeons and morning doves. Now remember that finches are “cling and peck” feeders and do not need to have perches.

The top has a special lock pin so that it will not blow off in wind storms, but can be easily removed for filling.

To clean the acrylic finch feeder, we spray the screen with a mild bleach solution, use a stiff  brush to scrub it and then allow it to dry.  The bottom may be removed during the cleaning process, but it is held together with a nut on the bottom so you must use an appropriate tool.  For this reason, this feeder  is slightly more of a challenge to clean that some of the others that I will review.  However, at only $14.99 for a 1 quart feeder with a three year warranty this is one of our most popular thistle bird feeders.

This storm brought a new yard bird into our platform bird feeder. It was the Dark-eyed Junco, the Oregon subspecies. It is common in Paradise, but the elevation and the habitat are typical for the Oregon Junco in Paradise, not down here on the edge of the desert.

We also had a Gila Woodpecker coming in to help its self to the sunflower seed bird feeder, one seed at a time. He would then fly up to an agave stock to crack the seed, then back down to the bird feeder.

The weatherman has promised a warm up, but this morning the Oregon Junco was back in. Who do you think predicts the weather more accurately, the weatherman or the junco?

If you are not feeding thistle then let’s figure out what birds a new thistle bird feeder will bring into your yard.  We need to check distribution maps and compare your location to the maps.  You will get some birds into thistle anywhere in the country, and checking distribution and habitat will tell you what the most likely species are, such as Goldfinches, Siskins, Redpolls and House Finches.

If you are new to feeding thistle to the birds I like to suggest a thistle sock as a beginner bird feeder.  We have three different thistle socks.  Our basic thistle sock comes filled with thistle seed.  This will give you both the sock and a starting supply of seed.  This is for someone who is just not sure what will come in to the thistle sock.  These socks have a thinner weave to their material.

The other socks are woven from heavy material, and comes in two sizes.  The small thistle socks are approximately 4″ x 11″.  This sock will accommodate approximately 7-8 birds at a time.  The large thistle socks are woven from heavy material and are approximately 4″ x 22″.  This sock will accommodate approximately 12-15 birds at a time.  A draw string retainer protects from spillage of expensive nyjer seed on these thistle socks.

Any thistle sock is subject to damage from squirrels, so this should be taken in to account before choosing a thistle sock.

With any thistle sock, be sure to roll the sock between your hands after rain.  This will move the seed around and assure that the seed dries so there is not spoilage.

These thistle bird feeders provide an economical method for feeding small desirable birds that cling, and may be right for you.  In upcome blogs I will discuss our other thistle bird feeders pros and cons.  We will find the perfect thistle feeder for you!

A facinating fact about this little gem of a bird is his display.  This little guy will not only display for a female hummingbird, but will show off for humans frequently. He will let you know that you are about to be treated to this display by hovering 6-12 feet in front of you.  He will then fly about 130 feet straight up.  He will then plummet in a near vertical dive. This display dive ends when the lets off a loud tweet about a 1 1/2 feet in front of you.  He will then circle back to his starting point.  Now this little hummingbird knows how beautiful he is as he will orient himself to the sun so that his throat and crown are reflected in the sun during the dive.

So, next time you think that the Anna’s Hummingbird you were watching disappeared by flying straight up, stay put, he just may be giving you a special view, and celebrate by wearing your Anna’s Hummingbird cap.

I looked out the window this past week to see a Pinion Jay at our stainless steel sunflower bird feeder.  I did a double take.  We have had them in our yard before, but usually in December and January, and then only when we have snow at our elevation which only happen a few times a year.  Although Tom was sure I knew what a Pinion Jay looked like after helping band them for years, his eyebrow still went up just a little.

“How unusual,” was his only comment.

Just a few days ago Tom hollered in from the family room “Hey, we have a Scrub Jay eating at the suet bird feeder!”

“How unusual,” was my only comment.  Although I have to tell you that I did get a good look at him and will confirm his finding.

This morning while we were sipping from our coffee mugs we had a Dark-eyed Junco stop for a bite to eat at the triple tube bird feeder.  We looked at each other and said at the same time “How unusual!”  We can laugh and tease each other and this sort of teasing always makes the day start off right.

It does make us wonder-what kind of weather will we be having if the birds are already scouting out bird feeders at our lower elevation?

Are you people from up north feeling sorry for us?

But this morning we had one American Goldfinch stop in for a bite to eat and a quick bath in the bird bath. This species is uncommon for our area. A few are seen in the area each year, but we have never had the flocks we were familiar with when we lived in South Dakota, and they never stay in the area for very long.

We knew our day was off to a great start, and to add to the day a small flock of Pine Siskins stopped by. These were a first for this fall. They visited our thistle sock, as the stainless steel thistle feeder was pretty much covered with birds. The American Goldfinch was much larger than the Lesser Goldfinches, so he was not shy about making sure he got a hearty breakfast.

It’s great to have more than one kind of bird feeder in your yard. Yesterday the platform bird feeder had all of the excitement and today the thistle bird feeders. What will tomorrow bring?

The White-crowned Sparrow, with it’s striking black and white striped head, is one of the birds that indicate to us that fall is here. The first year birds will have a brown and white striped head when they arrive here, but by the time they head back north the crisp black and white pattern is apparent. He is one of the first sparrows that beginning bird watchers learn to identify when they come to their bird feeders.

Since the White-crowned Sparrow prefers to feed on the ground along tree and shrub lines their favorite feeder in our yard is the platform bird feeder. A mixed seed seems to attract then however they have been know to be drawn to grains such as oats, wheat, barley, and corn.

A young male White-crowned Sparrow learns the basics of the song it will sing as an adult during the first few months of its life. The song is developed from not only listening to it’s father, but he will pick up bits of song from its neighbors. The birds will return to the same area to nest as they were hatched so the songs of the White-crowned Sparrow have regional dialects. If a young bird develops his song on the edge of two different dialects, the young bird will not combine the songs, but may become bilingual learning two different dialects.

Another interesting fact about the White-crowned Sparrow is that it will share their territories with Fox Sparrows, but chase Chipping Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos until they leave. In our yard we have three platform bird feeders so that all the sparrows can find a safe place to eat.

Our defination of “snowbirds” may not be the one that most people have, but in the world of birders, I’m sure that the White-crowned Sparrow is one of the welcomed snowbirds to their bird feeders.

I have to confess, sometimes I get really aggravated at the Rufous Hummingbird. We have had Black-chinned Hummingbirds here all summer. They have nested in our yard and entertained us with their acrobatic flight. Now migration is on and that little tiny bully known as the Rufous has managed to intimidate our summer long visitors. We have put out more Best 1 hummingbird feeders out of sight of each other, but the Rufous has managed to find a vantage point on the roof of our house so that he can see both the west and south side of our house, and he feels he needs 10 feeders for himself.

Tom has reminded me that the Rufous has the longest migratory journeys of any bird in the world, as measured by body size. At just over 3 inches long, its roughly 3,900-mile movement (one-way) from Alaska to Mexico is equivalent to 78,470,000 body lengths and that they need their strength to make such a migration.

Tom also reminds me that the Rufous has been documented chasing chipmunks away from their nest, so that they have to have a fierce nature to protect their young. Also, that they beat their wings 52-62 times a second, so they have to have a great deal of energy.

Tom has valid points, but still, does the Rufous Hummingbird need to dominate all 10  bird feeders? I think I’m still a little aggravated with him.

Our hummingbird migration is still going on.  We still have Rufous Hummingbirds coming through and we still have most of the hummingbirds like the Magnificent, Blue-throated, and Violet-crowned coming into our Best 1 Hummingbird feeder.  We have also set up several saucer humming bird feeders around the yard and of course, Tom still has the window mount hummingbird feeder on the kitchen window.

In the past few days we have had warblers filtering through including the Townsend’s, MacGillivray’s, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s, Yellow, Yellow-rumped and the Black-throated Gray.  They have been at our birdbath and enjoying the bird mister especially.  The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher only came in for one day and seemed to enjoy the  bird dripper most.

Many of our winter migrants have started coming in.  The Clay-colored and  White-crowned Sparrows are back as well as the Green-tailed Towhees.

All of this going on and in our recycled platform bird feeder we have a Curve-billed Thrasher feeding young.

Have I convinced you?  It’s Great to Bird Watch in Portal!

Our yard has been fenced off from cattle grazing for about 10 years now.  We are fighting a battle with Russian Thistle and have noticed a definite decrease in this weed and several other noxious weeds.  The return of the Rufous-crowned Sparrow has given us hope that our yard will someday become a true desert scrubland haven for the birds.

Once paired the Rufous-crowned Sparrow remain on their territories year-round and stay bonded for life.  The are ground feeders and like to peck at the base of grass stems.  They are therefore most attracted to platform bird feeders in the winter, however prefer insects in the summer months.  The bird baths we have in our yard seem to be attracting them this year as we have not had much in the way of monsoonal rains. 

To help you find Rufous-crowned Sparrows download our Portal Birding Map and look along the Portal Road and the Foothills Roads in the scrub land before and throughout the big thicket.

This morning we had a Lazuli Bunting at our tube bird feeder. This male was in the middle of a molt. That is not unusual for Lazuli Buntings when they visit our bird feeder here in Portal, AZ.

The Lazuli Buntings have a very unusual way of molting during migration. The birds begin their Prebasic molt during late summer on the breeding grounds, then abruptly stop this molt and migrate to one of two known molting “hotspots”. These are in southern Arizona and New Mexico and northern Sonora, or the southern tip of Baja California. They then finish molting before continuing their migration to wintering grounds in western Mexico.

So, if you get to come birding in our area be sure to watch out for the Lazuli Buntings.  Their molt is something for you to talk about when you return home, and you will only see it here while bird watching in the United States.

But according to the quail that were on our porch squawking and calling and generally making their displeasure known it is a tragedy.  You see, the Curve-billed Thrasher has claimed the cedar platform bird feeder as his and only his.  He can’t get by with that year round, but we still have very young baby quail coming in with their parents and at the first sign of trouble, everyone heads for cover.

The question you may be asking yourself is why did the quail come onto the porch?  Well, they come up to the sliding glass door and holler at us until the bird feeders are filled.  This is a learned behavior.  They have learned that the bird feeders are filled when someone comes out that door.  They are not quite as bad as chickens, but will come with in a few feet of us at feeding time.

Now you know why the quail had a bad Monday morning.  The next question would be why was our morning bad?  This all took place before 6:00 am, before we are normally up.

Did we get up to feed the quail?  Of course we did!  Our quail are really spoiled.  The only thing more spoiled are our grandchildren.

You can send sympathy cards to our daughter after we visit for a week at the end of the month.  She will deserve them. Spoil them rotten and then leave-that is our motto when it comes to grandchildren!

Beginning bird watchers have a tendency to misidentify Pyrrhuloxias.  They are quite often confused with the female cardinal.  This mistake can be avoided by looking at the beak.  The Pyrrhuloxia has a strongly curved bill that can be described as “stubby”   The beak is dark in the juvenile and yellow in the adult.  The cardinal has a larger, more triangular bill.  The juvenile does have a dark beak, but adult cardinals have an orange to red bill.

The odd name Pyrrhuloxia comes from the genus names Pyrrhula (bullfinches) and Loxia (crossbills). The roots mean “flame-colored” and “crooked,” and aptly describe the reddish bird with the crooked bill.

During the summer the Pyrrhuloxia will glean insects from the plants around our bird bath.  During the winter they would normally forage while hopping on the ground, so to attract Pyrrhuloxias the platform bird feeder will be most likely feeder used by this species.

It is alway exciting for birdwatchers out of our area to see their first Pyrrhuloxia and we still enjoy seeing them, specially when we know that a successful nest has taken place in our yard.  If you download our Portal, Arizona birding map you can find the Pyrrahuloxia along the Portal Road or along the Foothills Road.  Good Luck and Good Birding!

This is truly a beautiful bird.  The male is dressed up with a bright red forehead, supercilium, breast and rump in addition to its pretty song.  The female is more sparrow like, brown in color with a light belly with brown streaks.  They are easy to attract with sunflower seed or thistle Nyjer seed.  These birds are cling and peck type feeders so perches on the sunflower feeders or thistle feeders are not necessary as they can just cling to the side of the feeder.

Water is also a good way to get House Finches to your yard.  This can be provided with a simple bird bath or something as elaborate as a backyard pond kit.  Moving water is always better for attracting birds and you can add this dimension to a simple birdbath through the use of a mister or dripper.

While these birds are beautiful and fun to watch in your yard, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  In many areas House Finches are as common as the English House Sparrow.  In my mother’s backyard in Wyoming the House Finches are overwhelming, occurring in large numbers and eating a lot of seed in the process.  We have a lot of them on our property here in Portal, Arizona also, but nowhere near the numbers that my mother plays host to. 

So, are the House Finches beauties or beasts?  You can decide and let us know how you feel by commenting on this entry.  As for Nancy and I (and my mother), we operate on the premice that birds coming into the feeders attract other birds to the feeders and, in general, we have found that to be true.  What do you think?

But…..(you could hear that but coming, couldn’t you)…  we have a new bird feeder problem.  We have a young Cooper’s Hawk that has decided that our four tiered bird pond is a great place to soak it’s feet on a hot day.  It comes in and just stands in the water next to the water fall so that it gets a little splash, but not soaked.  We have never seen it attempt to hunt while it is here.  In fact it comes in with a great deal of wing flapping and hopping around.  It seems to want to clear every other animal out so that it has the bath to its self.  It is great to see the hawk stand so still for so long when you want to identify the bird or want to show it to a fellow bird watcher……but….you sure aren’t going to be able to show your fellow bird watcher any other birds when the hawk is around.

Now I realize that Cooper’s hawks have a rough life.  In a recent study of 300 skeletons,  23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the wishbone.  The males have a particularly hard life.  Let me remind you that:

1. Cooper’s Hawks eat birds smaller that they are. 

2. The females will eat medium-sized birds.

3. Male Cooper’s Hawks are smaller than the female. 

 Are you getting the picture?

This tends to make the male submissive and he will make sure that his mate is in the mood before he makes his move, for reasons I’m sure are obvious to you.

The male will build the nest and will then feed both the female and the babies for the next 3 months, the time it takes for the young to be ready to go out on their own.

Now despite this rough life, I wish this particular Cooper’s Hawk would find some other way of cooling off this summer.  He is wreaking our chance to see the baby birds that would usually visit our yard.  It is always fun to watch the adult plumage slowly emerge.

We do have bird feeders on other sides of the house, so we haven’t been totally out of touch with the maturing of the baby birds, but it is just not the same when we fill our coffee cups each morning.

This hawk does not have a flight plan, so we can’t discourage him in the normal ways.  Our only solution is to let the pond go dry and water the birds in the other bird baths are offered around the yard.  I hope he gets the message soon.

Of course, we are not having to put out as much bird seed as usual, so we are saving some money. But, doesn’t the President want us to spend money right now?  Maybe I can get him to address this problem over a beer at the White House some time.

I am not sure why else they would be here.  Their preferred habitat is generally streamside willows, cottonwoods and mesquites.  They generally nest in cavities or under peeling bark of these trees.  The closest habitat of this sort is nearly three miles away from our property and there is not a tree large enough on our property to have cavities or peeling bark. 

These small active little elves have pale gray upperparts, plain gray wings and whitish underparts.  Both male and female have a rusty patch on the upper tail coverts.  The male has a very noticeable rusty red patch on the top of the head.  The bills are thin and very pointed and they have dark legs.  Overall size is smaller than some of our hummingbirds at about 4 1/4 inches.

Lucy’s Warblers are insect eaters and a great deal of the joy we have for these little tykes is watching them glean insects from the sage, acacia and mesquites which border our bird pond.  The acrobatics of these birds in catching their food is amazing as they chase small insects in every imaginable position up and down the branches of the plants.

I do not know if this pair flies from the better habitat three miles away or if they are nesting closer and are utilizing a non-traditional nesting site.  Today, however, they showed up with a juvenile bird.  The youngster was fully feathered and was catching its own food on the various shrubs.  It was similar in looks to the female but had some buff on the underparts.  Now we have three of these little birds to enjoy and enjoy them we will.

Finches use what I call the”cling and peck” method to feed.  These small birds can cling to the head of a flower and peck at the seeds.  Now these flowers do not have to be sturdy like a sunflower and can be as fragile as a blanket flower.  In fact most finches enjoy seeds from any of the composite family of flowers.

Now that you have the facts you need to back you stance, I would like to offer you the opportunity to do more bird watching.  We all wish that we had more time to go bird watching, I mean would you rather mow your lawn or go bird watching?  Would you rather deadhead the flowers in the garden or go bird watching?  Would you rather dig weeds out of you yard or go bird watching? 

What?   You think your neighbors might object to your yard?  Well, tell them you are doing your part to protect the wild birds.  After all who doesn’t like goldfinches?  They eat the seed heads of thistles and dandelion, so you have to be green and feed the birds.  No, you can’t deadhead the flowers in your garden, you must let them go to seed- to feed the finches.  Trim your shrubs?  What if there is a finch nest in that shrub?  Mow your lawn?  What if that exposes the fledglings to the neighbors cat?  They need places to hide!  I’m sure you see how this is supposed to work.  And it does work for us. 

Of course our closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away…..

Yesterday we noticed a car barely pulling down our road, backing up, then pulling barely in again. After watching this odd behavior for a while we wandered up our road to see what was going on. They were a bird watching couple and the wife was trying to get the car angled so her husband could see our feeders without crossing into the acreage we have fenced off. He had a problem with mobility and getting in and out of the car was difficult. We, of course asked them to pull down our road and park so most of the bird feeders could be observed.

They noticed that we have three recycled oriole feeders hung around our yard, and asked how many orioles we have at one time. Now we get the Scott’s, Bullocks, and Hooded Orioles visiting us for grape jelly, oranges and sugar water just about constantly during the day , but we use the feeders to feed more than just orioles.

These feeders have plastic cups that can be filled with just about anything your imagination can think of and that birds will eat. We currently have one oriole feeder with jelly in one cup and peanut butter in the other with orange halves on the pegs. This feeder is visited by not only the orioles, but can attract wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, warblers, tanagers, woodpeckers and in our yard towhees, thrashers and several species of sparrows.

In the second recycled oriole feeder we have mealworms and raisins with apple on the pegs. All the insect and fruit eating birds favor this feeder. Species this food attracts includes bluebird, cardinals, wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, robins, titmice, warblers, mockingbirds, tanagers, orioles and woodpeckers. We have also had flycatchers visit in our yard.

In the third oriole feeder we have crushed egg shell and fruit we let get a little soft without actually being spoiled. This feeder attracts just about every bird that passes through our yard.

We have had people who have more jays than us tell us about filling the cups with crumbled dog food and people who have grated their suet blocks and used the cups to hold it to make it easier for the kinglets.

The recycled oriole feeder is one of the most versatile feeders we have. Maybe we should rename this feeder. Any suggestions?

These routes have already been randomly laid out by computer and consist of a starting point (Stop 1) with 49 more points each 1/2 mile apart.  Basically it is a linear transect 24 1/2 miles long.  At each point the counter counts all of the birds he sees or hears within a three minute time period.  At the end of three minutes he moves to the next stop 1/2 mile away.  Birds observed or heard after the three minutes or between stops do not count.  This goes on for the 50 survey stops of each route.  Each route has a designated starting time which is 1/2 hour before official sunrise and most end before 10:00 AM in the morning.  Each stop should remain constant from year to year and many Breeding Bird Survey conductors GPS the stop locations.  Also, it is not permissible to use audio recordings, pishing or any other method to coax the birds.

As you can see, Breeding Bird Surveys are technical and, I must admit, a drier form of bird watching.  However, the knowledge we get from them can be immense.  It was Breeding Bird Survey data that told us of the dramatic decline in numbers of individuals of many prairie species.  We have 15 years of data on our counts.  While the same species still reside on our sites, we have noted declines in numbers of individuals of many species.  However, this year we had a number of Botteri’s Sparrows, a grassland species on one of our counts.  We had never had them on any of our counts before and their arrival probably coincided with the breaking of a 30+ year drought a couple of years ago.  Areas which have not had grass since the 1940s now have luxerient grass over 4 feet tall.  Now this population fluctuation is documented by this survey.

Now that you know a little about Breeding Bird Surveys, it is time to decide if you would want to do one.  Nancy and I were doing about 20 a year at one time and have conducted them in South Dakota, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.  Routes are available in all 50 states.  All you need to conduct a count is a reliable automobile, a pair of binoculars, a notepad and pencil and the ability to know the local birds by sight and sound.  If you think a Breeding Bird Survey is for you, you may contact the Breeding Bird Survey Office at (301) 497-5843 and they will refer you to your state’s coordinator.  Are you up to the task?

A trip like this will usually let us see some species that don’t get over the mountain too often like the Phainopepla, the Cassin’s Sparrow and the Gila Woodpecker, to name a few.  Now before I get bombarded with comments about who has seen the birds on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains, I know they get here, but they are much more common on the west side of the mountains.

We were looking at a woodpecker, and had to opportunity to show it to some visiting birdwatchers from Virginia.

The gentleman thanked us and explained that they get Red-bellied Woodpeckers all of the time.

Tom and I  commented that we had gotten a lot of Red-bellied when we worked in Virgina and soon tired of them much like people from our area soon tire of the Acorn Woodpecker.

My Mother-in-law asked us to remind her to write the Gila Woodpecker down on here list because it was a year bird for her.  (She was visiting from Wyoming.)

The gentleman asked where we got the Gila.  Tom pointed up to where the Gila was still sitting.  The wife grabbed the field guide.

“Do you realize that that is a lifer for both of us?” The gentleman exclaimed.  He said that the Red-bellied Woodpecker was so common in the area that they lived that they just didn’t even bother to look closely at a medium-sized woodpecker with barring on its back and some red on its head.  They had noticed that there was less red than on most from their area, but had written it off as a regional difference or perhaps a young bird.

I think both of our new Virginia birding friends felt a little embarrassed about the misidentification.

I guess the lesson to learn from this story is to always check the distribution maps, especially when birding for the first time in a new area.  You might just add a lifer!

While many of our old birding haunts in the Valley are now closed to the public because of the rampant drug trade with nearby Mexican cities, several great places are still available for birding and nature studies.  Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge is an excellent birding location.  We have spotted Aplomado Falcons here on several occasions and feeders and water features at the headquarters bring in many local favorites.  Falcon Dam and Falcon Dam State Park provide homes for Green and Ringed Kingfishers and Green and Brown Jays.  Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is great for a number of Texas endemics.  The Hidalgo Pumphouse Nature Park in Hidalgo, Texas is a wonderful early morning birding site.  Favorites here include the Clay-colored Robin which behaves much like the American Robin hunting worms on the grassy lawns.  Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park also provides for exiting birding.  There is even a Birding Trail which covers the vicinity and takes you into many small nature centers and special habitat areas.

We have found the birding to be very good in the Lower Valley all 12 months of the year.  Each season has its specialties, but you just can’t go wrong with this area at any time of year.