Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bird Alley Update

An entertaining daily focus around our home is watching out our window that looks over our feeder area. The area is long and narrow and runs the enitre length of the side of our house, and so because of its length and narrow width, we call it Bird Alley.

We have not only birds visiting here, but several mammals are frequent visitors as well. Red Squirrels and Gray Squirrels are constant diners, as are at this time of year, White-tailed Deer. Within the past week Raccoons are starting to show up too, even in the daytime hours, and yesterday in late afternoon, there were three. I keep a daily list of birds and this winter there have always been three that have been regular visitors each day: Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees and Common Redpolls. Unfortunately for the Common Redpolls their large numbers seem to attract the attentions of a hungry Sharp-shinned Hawk and there have been many occasions to take a picture of one this winter, while it perched on a feeder pole in Bird Alley. Hairy Wood- peckers are fairly frequent visitors too and also, though not as often , the Downy Wood- pecker visits sometimes too. The Downy most times chooses to feed at a suet feeder while the Hairy is seen here at a peanut feeder. With the appearance of a Common Grackle on the 19th, the stage is now set for returning migrants and soon names like Common Redpolls, Tree Sparrows, and Pine Grosbeaks will no longer be written on my daily lists; their names being replaced by Fox Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Robins and many more to be noted as they appear.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice log of the nature visiting your yard. I have never seen a Redpoll or Grosbeak. The rest of the birds I have seen here in Alabama. I am always amazed to see the distance that some birds travel during migration. It is nice to see the bird life there in Canada.

me ann my camera said...

daniel:
The Common Redpoll and Pine Grosbeaks are both arctic birds and we only get to see them in the late fall and winter, then they return to their northern breeding grounds. I have never seen as many Pine Grosbeaks other years. Blogging allows for so many enjoyable presentations of what others experience in other regions; and its a wonderful format of sharing and exchanging information. Thanks for yuor comments.

oldcrow61 said...

Fabulous pictures. What a lot of different creatures you have visiting. I get the occasional black bear and was lucky enough to get pictures last August. He came within feet of me as I was snapping his picture from the deck.

me ann my camera said...

old crow:
My Black Bear sighting, and photo shoot as well, was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me; at first we had thought it was a black dog! Thanks for your visit, glad that you enjoyed.

Mary said...

What a nice lot of creatures in your Bird Alley! I love all of them. I like all the fat birds in the tree shot. The deer is so pretty and the raccoon shot is great. Each creature in his favorite pose.

me ann my camera said...

The activity in Bird Alley is increasing a bit more now each day. Soon,the little fat birds in the trees, the Common Redpolls, will be heading back up north to the Arctic. With so many creatures the feeders are empty each morning!