Ann's Bird Blog: 2025

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

YARD BIRDS 2025-26

Started early this year! Mike got the "bug" to put the feeders up last week, when he noticed we had sunflower seeds left over from last spring. So I came home one day, and both seed and suet feeders (two of each) were hanging outside the kitchen window. It took the birds about a week to find them, but now, as he says, "It's like an airport out there." The weather has been very rainy, and some of the birds still have nestlings, so I suspect that this extra food source is appreciated even though there are plenty of insects and natural things out there for birdie consumption.

This year's list, to be added on throughout the season:

Blue-gray gnatcatcher (may be a new yard bird)
Brown-headed nuthatch
House finch
Goldfinch
Cardinal
Red-bellied woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
White-throated sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Northern Junco
Northern mockingbird
Tufted titmouse
Carolina chickadee
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Red-winged blackbird
Eastern bluebird
Yellow-rumped warbler
Pine warbler
Mourning dove
Eastern phoebe
Northern towhee
cowbird
Carolina wren
Brown thrasher
Blue jay
Rose-breasted grosbeak

Saturday, January 25, 2025

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

From page 108. Putting this here for future use:

"When I first took an interest in birds, I asked on a Facebook bird group page what kind of food I should put in a feeder for sparrows. The curt answer from one expert was this: All sparrows are ground feeders and do not eat from feeders. He suggested I get a guidebook on birds so I could learn the basics (meaning, don't ask questions that are common knowledge). I was new to watching birds, so I felt like an idiot. I often do when some pooh-bah issues a blunt answer in subjects I know little about. Fortunately, most people who love birds are kind toward beginner birders. In fact, every birder and nature journal I've personally met is exceedingly kind and patient with every beginner. They love to instill a love of birds."

How This Bird-Watching Happened

I'm always a little self-conscious and reticent about telling people that I like to watch birds. Somehow that hobby conjures up pictures of little old women in khaki shorts and boots, peering through binoculars at some little spot in the woods. Maybe wearing a pith helmet.

But birdwatching is something that really brought my husband and me together in the early years of our marriage. He was a huge hunter; I had never picked up a gun. We were very different. But we discovered that we were quite a team about birdwatching - I was the bookworm about them, and he had the outdoors knowledge to pick up sounds and motion in the woods. We kept lists and watched everywhere we went. I picked up some of his extensive knowledge about wildlife. And it was fascinating.

Even after our son was born, we still could keep up with this hobby somewhat. Our home had a great shelf feeder, directly out of our second-story bedroom window, that was about fifty yards from woods and stream. So we had great variety coming directly to our house.

After moving to Mike's hometown, the hobby waned. Two children, not a good location for much variety at a feeder, not as easy to take trips, either short or long ones. So it became an occasional thing rather than a main focus.

On our trip to the northwest, fourteen years ago, we put fifteen new species on our lists and got excited about it once again. And on our recent California trip, we got a few more.

Now that our children are gone, we're intent on watching birds again. It is still bringing us together. And we don't even need khaki shorts or pith helmets.