Birds Around Home

April 7, 2007

A young downy woodpecker does its security routine on the oak tree, and then flies down to the suet feeder.

A red house finch gets a drink from the frozen birdbath at this time of a surprisingly severe freeze at Easter. A young goldfinch hangs onto the thistle feeder.

A sparrow joins a red fince at one of the feeders.

Naturally, if you have bird feeders, you also have squirrels. But we take a fairly benign attitude toward them since we have fairly effectively baffled them out of the bird feeders. There are always a few squirrels in the grass.

The squirrels are entertainingly acrobatic. This one has just lept from an oak tree to the top of the wooden fence, a leap of at least four feet.

We take a less benign approach to the blackbirds, which can call in the whole flock and clean out the bird feeders in a day. We are still working on ways to discourage them.

We filled this feeder with thistle particularly for the finches, and no other species seem to care for it. We collected several goldfinches along with the more common house finches on this day.

The doves come regularly, and some consider them nuisances because they eat a lot, but I like them. They are peaceful.

The big redhead woodpecker is a great favorite of mine. The pair brought a young one this year, starting about the first of June. The suet really flies when this guy starts pecking ... much appreciated by the ground feeders below him.

This big woodpecker sometimes comes to the window feeder, and he is really a spectacle there. He loves peanuts, and will stir the seed and toss out the sunflower seeds and others until he finds a peanut. He then flies away happily. He costs us a good bit of birdseed, but he is worth it. I find them a joy - they are not musical at all, but their strong chirp is exuberant and to my ear, joyful and positive. Always, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!" comes to my mind.

The nuthatch is another of my favorites. I always think of him as dressed up in his tuxedo, and I love his laughing call. I think this one is a young one, from the downy look of his neck feathers.

I think the sun in the new oak leaves is very beautiful, especially with this goldfinch sitting up there among them.