2021

A Slippery Start

Temperatures hovered around 29 degrees, freezing rain gave way to melting droplets and ended with snowflakes. Bedraggled birds came in by the dozens to forage, and we had 24 species on this first day of the new year.

The Pine Siskin count was 22, a pair of Brown Creepers were seen, and American Goldfinches numbered 13. A Blue Jay looked to be encased in ice as it rested in a viburnum.

1-1-21 Pine Siskin on icy branch of American Elm

1-1-21 Two Brown Creepers

1-1-21 American Goldfinch on icy branch of Rough-leaf Dogwood 1-1-21 Blue Jay

1-1-21 Ice melting on Rough-leaf Dogwood

A Red-bellied Woodpecker was challenged by a pest but held its ground against this European Starling. The immature male and female Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers both came in looking for bark butter.

1-1-21 Red-bellied Woodpecker female and European Starling 1-1-21 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, immature male 1-1-21 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker female

Rusty Blackbirds were seen in the woodland, tossing leaves and looking for insects. American Crows came in low, near the Bubbler, hoping for a handout the next day. Even in these miserable-to-us conditions, Pine Siskins held a pool party.

1-1-21 Rusty Blackbird

1-2-21 American Crow 1-2-21 Six Pine Siskins

A Hairy Woodpecker took some time to nap on the bark butter feeder. Northern Cardinals, Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows were seen going in and out of the still fragrant Christmas tree, salvaged from our neighbors. We thank you, Nick, Courtney and George, and so do the birds! We staked it for additional cover, and just in time before the first snowflakes fell.

1-2-21 Hairy Woodpecker

1-3-21 Salvaged Christmas tree from neighbors

On Sunday, 1-3-21, a female Purple Finch stayed long enough to be documented. However, the resident House Finches did not make the bird welcome at all. They harassed the Purple Finch at each feeder. 

1-3-21 Purple Finch female in Spicebush 1-3-21 Two House Finches and Purple Finch female

1-3-21 House Finch pushes off Purple Finch female 1-3-21 House Finch spars with Purple Finch female

Meanwhile, the Pine Siskins continued to take advantage of bathing time after lunch.

1-4-21 Nine Pine Siskins

On the next day, another female Purple Finch came in. To me, this bird looked a bit brighter, with more contrast in its plumage. At the same time, a very striped female Red-winged Blackbird was near the feeder, FOY#28 for the year.

1-4-21 Purple Finch female 1-4-21 FOY #28 Red-winged Blackbird female

Tuesday, 1-5-21 was a much nicer day. It warmed up to 50.2 degrees, the 'Yellow-shafted' Northern Flicker female seemed to thoroughly enjoy a dunking. See the shafts of its feathers? The western sub-species has red shafts.

1-5-21 Northern Flicker female 1-5-21 Northern Flicker female 1-5-21 Northern Flicker female

A Red-tailed Hawk was seen soaring and heard calling, FOY#29. Carolina Wrens were singing, and insects were dancing about. All of the insect activity brought in Eastern Bluebirds, FOY#30. 

1-5-21 Singing Carolina Wren on a 50 degree day 1-5-21 Insects out on a 50 degree day

1-5-21 FOY#30 Eastern Bluebird

We took an idea from our friend, Wally George, to re-use a storage container as a tray feeder for the birds. It took a few days, but quite a few species now have used it. Sixteen Pine Siskins were on it on Thursday, 1-7-21, and as we added up the Siskins on the other feeders and in the Bubbler Basin, we came up with 43. Today's count was 48, our highest ever.

1-7-21 16 Pine Siskins 1-7-21 8 Pine Siskins 1-7-21 8 Pine Siskins 1-7-21 9 Pine Siskins

Blue Jays, a Song Sparrow and today, a Common Grackle have visited the Bubbler, bringing the year total to 23 and overall yard total to 32. As counting birds goes, it has been a good start to the year.

1-8-21 Blue Jay 1-9-21 Bubbler #22 Song Sparrow

1-10-21 FOY 32 B23 Common Grackle

We have gained 11 minutes of daylight since the Solstice, have you noticed?

As the Brown Creeper says, "Hang in there, please stay safe and well!"

1-8-21 Brown Creeper