Injured Pine Grosbeak

Yesterday morning, while in another part of my house, I heard a loud 'thud' and knew that a bird must have hit our window that looks out upon our feeder area. Sure enough, lying directly below the window, in the snow, was a male Pine Grosbeak. I thought for sure it had probably fatally injured itself for it appeared lifeless and its head was turned to the right in what appeared to be an awkward angle. However, as I sat and watched, about four minutes later it stirred and turned its head, and then up righted itself so that its head was facing forward. I continued to watch and then wonderied if it had injured its wing, for although it was turning its head often, it had not moved its wings. It had hit the window at 8:24 am and stayed there in the snow, reviving and resting, for 27 minutes. It then suddenly lifted its wings, stood in the snow; and I shot the video below as it flew from its snowy location to a nearby branch.


This is a story with a happy ending and after perching on the branch for 15 minutes it then flew away with a small flock of Pine Grosbeaks that had suddenly appeared.
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Red Squirrel Foraging in the Snow

There's no worry about this particular little mammal having enough food for the winter. I had thought it might prefer to spend a cold, snowy, winter's day in its cosy nest, lined with grass, bark and leaves; located in a tree cavity some- where nearby. Not this one though. While birds were wondering where all the food had gone this Red Squirrel, a species common throughout the province, was diving under the mounds of snow at my feeders and finding the sunflower seeds there that had been covered by the recent snowfall. Red Squirrels by their nature store large quanitites of food for the winter and I'm sure this one already has an ample supply for it has been an almost daily visitor at my feeders for a long time now.

Another Snowy Morning at our Feeders

Another snowy morning in Bird Alley and the need to replenish the bird feeders became an immediate concern. With the first early light I could see Juncos and Tree Sparrows fliting about on the snow covered ground trying to find seeds . Some Tree Sparrows perched on the edge of the feeders but the seeds there were covered too. The male Northern Cardinal, which has become a regular fixture most days now, was also waiting and I watched as it checked out all the food sources, finally settling upon a feeder filled with finch food. The two platform feeders were also snow covered and the Mourning Doves and Pine Grosbeaks could only perch there and wait. You can get some idea of the depth of snow in our feeder area by the picture below of my spouse while he is replenishing the feeders. As it is still snowing we put out only a small amount of food for it will be soon covered again.

Hungry Northern Cardinal

Yesterday's snowfall, of about 25 cm, was our third snowstorm of the week and it is getting more difficult with each snowfall for the birds to find food. More snow is expected this evening. While watching our feeders yesterday I noticed that a male Northern Cardinal stayed around for most of the day. Its brilliant red colour was very conspicuous in the snow. About the only birds that continued to feed successfully were Common Redpolls which covered the nyger seed feed sack with their bodies when they would converge upon our feeders in large numbers. Our platform style feeders, where I put Blackoil sunflowers seeds, were rapidly covered up with the falling snow and the Cardinal was unable to find much there to eat. I then remembered that I had a couple of old wooden apple boxes in our garden shed and placed them on a platform feeder and scattered sunflower seeds within. The Cardinal soon found this sheltered food supply, and although wary to enter far into this shelter; fed successfully.

Birds In Our Feeder Area

Heavy snow overnight brought many hungry birds
to our feeder area this morning: three are pictured below.

a male Northern Cardinal and Tree Sparrow

female Pine Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird In Late December

It was quite a surprise to look out our windows this morning and see this female Red-winged Blackbird at our feeders! We had seen a couple of Blackbirds in November but they were male and we had seen very few, if any, females at our feeders this fall. I wonder where its been ? We've had very cold, unseasonably low tempera -tures most of December; readings many mornings were at -26 degrees C!. However last night was a night of wind and rain and the temperature reading this morning was at +8 Celsius in our area. I guess it flew in, or blew in, from somewhere and I'm sure our warmer tempera -tures were a welcome relief for it. It hasn't stayed around. Perhaps its taking advantage of a super, wonderful day for flying and is now moving further south. With sunny skies and above zero temperatures we will be experiencing a semi-green Christmas this year as green grass is now showing on a major portion of lawn.
I would like to wish all Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays!

Just A Few Common Redpolls

Common Redpolls have been slow coming to our feeder area this year. Then the other day I realized probably a very good reason for that was I hadn't been providing any Nyjer seed to attract them. So off to the the feed store to buy some and while there I saw a mesh sock feeder and decided to try one of those. After hanging it; a few days later a couple of Redpolls showed up and yesterday I had four feeding from it. I noticed though that when Blue Jays flew near that part of our feeder area the Redpolls flew off and perched in branches until the Blue Jay flurry was gone. We have a lot of bigger bird activity this winter with lots of Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, Blue Jays, two or three Hairy Wood- peckers and the occasional Starling dropping by also. I try to rearrange my feeders so that the bigger birds are concentrated in one part and the little birds in another but that is quite difficult to achieve as I only have so much space and we attracts a lot of birds some days.

Bohemian Waxwings

More nomadic bird visitors from the Far North arrived at our feeder area yesterday: Bohemian Waxwings! This is the first sighting I have seen of this species this season. There were two of these handsome, fruit eating birds feeding on our American Bittersweet berries just outside our windows. The name 'waxwing' is derived from the 'waxy' red tips of the secondary wing feathers. Bohemian Waxwings also display yellow and white feather edging and a cinnamon reddish-brown coloured undertail. There are lots of Bittersweet berries still left so I hope they make a return visit again soon.

And the Winner Is: Male Pine Grosbeaks

If I had to give an award to the species with the most surprising attendance at our feeders this late fall/ pre-winter season it would be to Pine Grosbeaks, more specifically to the male Pine Grosbeak. They are here every day in numbers of 10 or so, more or less. We have had Pine Grosbeaks other seasons but never this many males. In fact some years I hardly got a glimpse of one, and some years none, but they are lingering on this year. It used to be that as soon as all the berries from our High Bush Cranberry Trees were gone, so were the grosbeaks. This is wonderful to be able to look out my window and lesiurely take pictures of these handsome, gentle appearing birds every day.

Red Squirrel

I often neglect to mention this little furry creature, this Red Squirrel, although it is a very frequent visitor to our feeder area. It loves Blackoil Sunflower seeds.

Braving Out the Storm

Found Some! Snowbirds!

I found some Snow Buntings (aka: Snowbirds) yesterday feeding along the roadside. The problem being though is that they seemed to keep the same distance from me and my car. I moved a little closer, they moved a little further away. However, I'm going back to same location this morning for with a big winter storm looming on the horizon perhaps they are gathering their roadside seeds while they may. [shades of Robert Herrick] . With lesser traffic on a Sunday maybe I will be able to sit stationary for a while and they might come a little closer to me. That is if I can find them again!
Also maybe I can get a view of the male Pheasant that others have reported having seen within the village.

American Tree Sparrow

If it has a brownish- rusty crown, a bicoloured bill with yellow on the lower part, and it has a dark spot on the middle of its unstreaked breast; then you are looking at an American Tree Sparrow. These little sparrows of the north migrate from their sub-arctic breeding grounds in Northern Canada and Alaska to winter in our regions as well as areas further south. These little sparrows are daily visitors to our feeder area.

Just Another Snowy Day: Northern Cardinal

This male Northern Cardinal is a frequent visitor; perhaps even visiting every day but as its visits are often quite brief, some days I am sure I miss sighting him. He seems to be more secure now in his surroundings and appears confident when he visibly alights upon a tree branch in full view of our windows upon his arrival. Previously when it first starting coming to our feeders it would hang around the base of the Cranberry Trees in the back portion of our feeder area.

Acrobatic Starlings

At first glance you might think that this European Starling is in the act of flying towards the suet feeder; but a click on the photo to enlarge it will reveal that its feet are actually clinging to branches as it flutters it wings to maintain balance while feeding on the bird suet in the wire cage. We have not had many Starlings at our feeder area this year but when placing the suet feeder in our trees this week it didn't take long for these two to arrive.
Seen in the composite photo above, created through the use of photo editing, the Starling's winter plumage of white-dotted feather tips on its black, glossy feathers is outstanding.