Frantic Feeders in a Snowstorm

Snowstorm for the past three days.  Feeders have been hugely busy:

1. Carolina chickadee
2. tufted titmouse
3. Carolina wren
4. pine warbler
5. song sparrow
6. chipping sparrow
7. northern junco
8. downy woodpecker
9. red-bellied woodpecker
10. cardinal
11. mourning dove
12. red-winged blackbird
13. common grackle
14. hermit thrush (new bird for both Mike and me)
15. American goldfinch
16. house finch
17. ruby-crowned kinglet
18. rufous-sided towhee
19. bluejay

Not As Many Winter Birds

The feeders have been very busy but we do not have the beautiful irruption birds that we had last year.  No pine siskins, no red-breasted nuthatches.  But plenty of titmice, chickadees, juncos, doves, cardinals, and HOUSE FINCHES.  I wish there were some way to feed the others but not the house finches.  They go through seed so quickly, and they're not that fun to watch.

We also see the red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, pine warbler, and ruby-crowned kinglet from time to time.

Dobbins Farm Ponds

I am so tardy posting on here.

We've made seven trips to the Dobbins Farm Ponds and seen a short-eared owl twice.  Once Mom was with us and we got beautiful views that time.

I'm also 95% certain that I saw sandhill cranes flying overhead but can't mark them down for that.

We added the horned lark and savannah sparrow to our list.

On one of the earlier trips I added the common loon (Lake Hartwell) and the owl to my life list.

We have really enjoyed birding the Dobbins Farm Ponds this winter!!

Covered Up with Goldfinches

Brilliant summer goldfinches everywhere we look at our feeders.

Summer Goldfinches

The summer goldfinches still coming to our feeder are brilliant now.  I still have to stop and watch every time I see one at one of the feeders - and they are there most of the day.

The winter birds are pretty well gone, although with cool weather lasting longer than usual (this is the last ten days of April, and the temps. are not supposed to get above 70 most of next week), some are still hanging around a little.  I saw a siskin today.  But the redheaded nuthatch has been gone for quite awhile, and I haven't seen juncos for a few days either.

Traffic is way down at the feeders.  For a couple of months we were refilling the sunflower seeds every day.  Now, it's only a couple of times a week.  I put the last of the suet and the last of the thistle seed this afternoon.  When it's gone - we'll be done until fall.  I will miss the activity just outside our picture window.

Feeder Birds 2012-2013

1. Carolina Chickadee
2. Tufted Titmouse
3. House Finch
4. American Goldfinch
5. Northern Junco
6. Northern Cardinal
7. Red-Breasted Nuthatch
8. Pine Warbler
9. Pine Siskin
10. Red-Bellied Woodpecker
11. Downy Woodpecker
12. Mourning Dove
13. Eurasian Collared Dove
14. Chipping Sparrow
15. Red-Winged Blackbird
16. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
17. Carolina Wren
18. ?? Hawk

Feeders Busy

Feeders were very busy today.  Tonight is supposed to be the coldest night of the season so far, into the 20s, so they must have sensed what is coming and were filling up.  Just today we had:

--Carolina chickadee
--tufted titmouse
--house finch
--goldfinch
--northern junco
--red-breasted nuthatch
--red-bellied woodpecker (I never saw the downy but feel certain it came at some point during the day)
--pine warbler
--cardinal
--ruby-crowned kinglet (female)

I may have seen a siskin but it is hard to tell the difference between that and a female house finch.  It all depends on the lighting, and I won't be certain until I see that flash of yellow.