You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2008.
| Weather and Effort: December 17 and 18, 2008 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None – - |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Mourning Dove | 8 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 |
| Steller’s Jay | 4 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 6 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 3 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| American Robin | 1 |
| California Towhee | 2 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 8 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 5 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 5 |
| House Finch | 8 (0 with eye disease) |
Photo courtesy of Project FeederWatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
A White-breasted Nuthatch visits my suet feeder and the platform ground feeder. I only see one bird at a time although there must be more. I see them hopping up and down and around tree trunks searching for insects.
A common bird of deciduous forests and wooded suburbs, the White-breasted Nuthatch can be seen hopping headfirst down the trunks of trees in search of insect food. It frequents bird feeders and takes sunflower seeds off to the side of a tree, where it wedges them into a crevice and hammers them open.
Description
- Large nuthatch; creeps headfirst down tree trunks.
- Dark gray or black cap.
- Bright white face and underparts.
- Blue-gray upper parts.
- Long bill either straight or slightly upturned.
- Size: 13-14 cm (5-6 in)
- Wingspan: 20-27 cm (8-11 in)
- Weight: 18-30 g (0.64-1.06 ounces)
Sex Differences
Sexes similar; male with black cap, female with grayer cap.
Sound
Song a series of soft, slightly nasal “what, what, what” notes. Call a soft “yank.
Conservation Status
Common and widespread. Populations increasing over most of range.
Cool Facts
- Nuthatches gather nuts and seeds, jam them into tree bark, and hammer or “hatch” the food open with their bills.
- The White-breasted Nuthatch is normally territorial throughout the year, with pairs staying together. The male is more vigilant when he forages alone than when he is with the female. The female, however, is in danger of having the more dominant male displace her from foraging sites, and she is more vigilant when he is around than when she is alone.
- In winter, the White-breasted Nuthatch joins foraging flocks led by chickadees or titmice. One explanation for these flocks is that the birds gain protection from predators by the vigilance of the other birds. In support of this idea, one study found that if titmice were removed from a flock, nuthatches were more wary and reluctant to come to exposed bird feeders.
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
| Weather and Effort: December 10, 2008 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low 11 to 20° C (51 to 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None – - |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Mourning Dove | 6 |
| Black-chinned Hummingbird | 1 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 1 |
| Steller’s Jay | 2 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 5 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 3 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| California Towhee | 2 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 10 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 2 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 5 |
| House Finch | 9 (0 with eye disease) |
Photo courtesy of Cornell University Project FeederWatch
Oregon Dark-eyed Junco
A widespread and common small sparrow, the Dark-eyed Junco is most familiar as a winter visitor to bird feeders. It comes in several distinctly different looking forms, but all are readily identified as “juncos” by their plain patterning, dark hood, and white outer tail feathers.
Description
- Medium-sized sparrow.
- Unstreaked gray or brown, no wingbars (usually).
- Gray to black hood.
- Belly white.
- White outer tail feathers.
- Eyes dark. Legs pink.
- Size: 14-16 cm (6-6 in)
- Wingspan: 18-25 cm (7-10 in)
- Weight: 18-30 g (0.64-1.06 ounces)
Sex Differences
Sexes similar, but females average paler and browner.
Cool Facts
- Juncos are the “snowbirds” of the middle latitudes. In the eastern United States, they appear in all but the most northern states only in the winter, and then retreat each spring. Some juncos in the Appalachian Mountains remain there all year round, breeding at the higher elevations. These residents have shorter wings than the migrants that join them each winter. Longer wings help the migrants fly long distances.
- The Dark-eyed Junco includes five forms that were once considered separate species. The “slate-colored junco” is the grayest, found from Alaska to Texas and eastward. The “Oregon junco” is boldly marked blackish and brown, with a distinct dark hood, and is found in the western half of the continent. The “gray-headed junco” has a brown back and gray sides and lives in the central Rocky Mountains. The “white-winged junco” is all gray with white wingbars, and breeds only near the Black Hills of South Dakota. The “Guadalupe junco” of Baja California is dull and brownish. Two other forms may be distinguishable: the “pink-sided junco,” a pale version of the Oregon junco, living in the northern Rocky Mountains, and the “red-backed junco,” a gray-headed junco with a dark upper bill, found in mountains near the Mexican border.
- The Dark-eyed Junco is a common bird at winter bird feeders across North America. Data from Project FeederWatch show that it is often the most common feeder bird in an area, and it is on the top-ten lists of all regions except the Southeast and South-Central (where it is 11th and 12th, respectively).
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
I love watching the squirrels figure out how to get peanuts in the shell from the squirrel feeder, made from a wide-mouth gallon jar in a stand. Some are very cautious and examine the feeder from all sides before they stretch their body venturing in to grab a peanut. Other squirrels walk into the jar so that their entire body is inside, they pick up a peanut, turn around and exit the jar. They sit on the lattice fence examining the peanut; then they start breaking open the shell to remove and eat the nuts or they scurry off to hide the peanut for colder weather.
When I put peanuts out for the birds I usually throw a few handfuls of nuts on the ground or I line them up on the lattice fence around our deck.
Here are directions to make a peanut feeder for your backyard birds.
Peanut Feeder for Your Feathered Friends
If you want a parade of colorful birds coming to your backyard, try offering them peanuts.
We recommend serving them in the shell. It makes it difficult for squirrels to get to the goobers, while woodpeckers, blue jays and nuthatches have little trouble breaking the shells with their bills.
Here’s What You’ll Need
One 2-foot 1-inch x 6-inch board
Approximately 12 inches x 18 inches of hardware cloth with 1/4-inch squares
36-inch-long light-duty chain
One screw eye
Netting staples
Waterproof carpenter’s glue (or 1-5/8-inch deck screws)
Recommended Tools
Band, saber or scroll saw
Wire cutter
Needle-nose pliers
Soldering iron (optional)
Start Building
Cut out four disks-two should measure about 4-3/4 inches across, and two should measure about 3 inches across-with a band, saber or scroll saw. Make the circles with a compass, or simply trace the rims of quart and 1/2-pint paint cans (or other cans similar to the dimensions above). Cut the smaller disks carefully. They should be as close to identical as possible.
Center and glue (or predrill and fasten with three 1-5/8-inch deck screws) each small disk to a larger disk. Clamp these pieces together until the glue completely dries. This will form the top and base of the feeder.
Fasten one end of the chain to a screw eye. Open the eye with two small pliers. (Twist in opposite directions until the eye opens just enough for the chain to be inserted.) Close the eye with a pliers.
Drill a pilot hole in the center of one of the small disks and turn in the screw eye. This will become the feeder’s base.
Wrap hardware cloth around the completed base. (If using a 1/2-pint paint can to determine the size of the smaller disks, wrap the hardware cloth around the base and the can, which should be positioned about 10 inches higher than the base. Wrap heavy-duty rubber bands around the base and can to form a cylinder.)
Cut the hardware cloth about 1/4 inch beyond the last complete square where it comes together. This will leave small wire tabs on one end (see illustration above). Now you can remove the rubber bands and paint can.
Bend hardware cloth into a cylinder and attach to the feeder’s base with netting staples (with the chain inside).
Join the two ends of hardware cloth to form a cylinder. Secure by wrapping the tabs around the other end using needle-nose pliers. Make sure the cylinder isn’t too tight at the feeder’s top, otherwise it will be difficult to lift up and close when filling with peanuts.
We recommend spot soldering the wire at the seam about every 2 inches for a better hold. If there is excess wire at the tabs, trim with a wire cutter.
The chain can be looped for hanging or attached to a S hook.
Slide the top up along the chain and then fill the cylinder with peanuts. You’ll enjoy watching the “peanut gallery” of feathered friends.
Directions from Birds and Blooms.com
| Weather and Effort: December 3, 2008 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low 11 to 20° C (51 to 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None – - |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Mourning Dove | 4 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 1 |
| Steller’s Jay | 4 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 3 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 3 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| California Towhee | 2 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 9 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 5 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 6 |
| House Finch | 10 (0 with eye disease) |
| American Goldfinch | 1 (0 with eye disease) |
Steller’s Jay
Steller’s Jays visit my backyard just about everyday. They compete with the Western Scrub Jays and the squirrels for the peanuts I throw out.
A striking crested bird of bright blue and black, the Steller’s Jay is a familiar sight around campgrounds in the mountains of the West.
Description
- Large songbird.
- Crest on head dark blue or black.
- Head, chest, and back brownish-black.
- Wings, tail, and body deep blue.
- Size: 30-34 cm (12-13 in)
- Weight: 100-140 g (3.53-4.94 ounces)
Sex Differences
Sexes look alike
Sound
Large variety of loud and harsh calls. Common call a harsh “shaar,” and a rapid rattling “shek, shek, shek, shek.”
Cool Facts
- The Steller’s Jay and the Blue Jay are the only New World jays that use mud in the construction of their nests.
- The Steller’s Jay shows a great deal of variation in appearance throughout its range, with some populations featuring black crests and backs, and others blue. One black-crested form in southern Mexico is surrounded by eight other blue-crested forms.
- The Steller’s Jay periodically irrupts away from its normal range. Most of these far-ranging individuals appear to be young birds.
- Steller’s and Blue jays are the only North American jays with crests. The Blue Jay is expanding its range westward. Where they meet, the two species occasionally interbreed and produce hybrids.
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
