Another Low Count

Bird visits were still off this weekend for PFW. I was only in town a short while the first day of the count and absolutely no birds were at the feeders. It snowed early Sunday morning, yet the number of birds was still off. Conspicuously missing were the Chickadees, Titmice, Downy WP, and House Finches.

A very quick visit from the Mockingbird was a pleasant surprise.

Checklist for FeederWatch Missouri Birds

Mourning Dove	1
Carolina Wren	1
Northern Mockingbird	1
Song Sparrow	1
White-throated Sparrow	4
Dark-eyed Junco	6
Northern Cardinal	3
American Goldfinch	7 (0 with eye disease)
Total Species/Individuals	8 / 24

I was off work today and of course just about all of them returned, including a Northern Flicker and the Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Ah, the fickleness of birds.

Dark Eyed Junco

Northern Cardinal

Frosty Napping (Christmas Inflatable on the neighbor's porch blew over.)

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Cat Mischief

Lucy & Topaz are sweet, but sometimes you can't turn your back on them for a moment.



This was after I had already cleaned up after them once tonight. Then they try to look all innocent. Notice how Lucy (on the left) is looking upward? She's just itching to keep digging in the plant.



I have too much to do tonight to monitor them! Guess that's what doors are for. At least they haven't knocked the Christmas tree over, yet.

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Rule of 3's Ignored

Every count this season has been a multiple of 3 until this weekend. There were 11 species and a relatively low number of individuals. The temperatures hovered just under freezing and there was light snow cover after it snowed Friday night. I can't complain, though, considering the storms in the Northeast of the US this weekend.

No unusual birds showed up. With the exception of the juncoes and finches off and on, the feeders were very quiet.

Checklist for FeederWatch Missouri Birds

Mourning Dove	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
Carolina Chickadee	1
Tufted Titmouse	3
Carolina Wren	2
Song Sparrow	1
White-throated Sparrow	3
Dark-eyed Junco	14
Northern Cardinal	1
House Finch	7 (0 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	8 (0 with eye disease)
Total Species / Individuals	11 / 42

Happy Holidays to All


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Return to Normal

I still don't know what "normal" is here, so maybe I should say the Bird Counts met my expectations this weekend with a total of 15 species and 66 individuals. A far cry from 3 species last weekend! The only bird missing that I would have expected is the White-breasted Nuthatch which seems to always come around with the Chickadees and Titmice. Perhaps it showed up while I was out.

Checklist for FeederWatch Missouri Birds

Mourning Dove	7
Downy Woodpecker	1
Northern Flicker	1
Blue Jay	3
Carolina Chickadee	3
Tufted Titmouse	4
Carolina Wren	2
Song Sparrow	1
White-throated Sparrow	4
Dark-eyed Junco	16
Northern Cardinal	3
House Finch	7 (0 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	9 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow	3
Total Species/Individuals	15 / 66

The juncoes were here in full force with a total of 16 at one point. I've noticed that the birds tend to come in spurts of about an hour at a time. They'll be here, then disappear for a while. Guess they are visiting other feeders on the circuit, or a predator came into the area.

With heavily overcast skies, it wasn't the best weekend for photographing birds, but here are a few:

White-throated Sparrow

Tufted Titmouse

Carolina Wren

American Goldfinch

Downy Woodpecker

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The Birds Return!

So the birds have practically vacated the neighborhood these past two weeks. I have a strong suspicion that a predator is prowling the area. This morning as I was drinking my coffee before going to work, I saw a large hawk fly across the sky and land in a tree a couple doors down. It wasn't long after that a Blue Jay or two started buzzing and dive-bombing the hawk perched in the tree. I saw the hawk fly off to the west, then another hawk flew off higher in the sky.

After the hawks departed, the Blue Jays flew into the neighbor's magnolia tree and started screaming again. Was there another hawk, or perhaps an owl, roosting there? Evidently not. The screeches must have been an "All Clear" signal because all of a sudden, dozens of birds started flying to the magnolia and the surrounding yards. It was a constant flow of birds as if the flood gates had been opened.

And yes, even though I was 10 to 15 feet away sipping my coffee, they started coming to the feeders! For 15 minutes in the morning, and a short time when I was home at noon, I saw Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, a White-breasted Nuthatch, a pair of Carolina Wrens, a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, Cardinals, House Finches, a lone Mourning Dove, a single Am Goldfinch, and of course the Blue Jays on the perimeter.

And to top it off, there was a fall-out of Juncoes and White-throated Sparrows! There were at least a dozen Juncoes and half a dozen WT Sparrows in the morning. Winter is definitely upon us.

It's great to know that the birds haven't completely abandoned the neighborhood. I'm sure the hawks will be back from time to time, and my counts will fluctuate because of it, but that's just how nature works. The hawks have to eat too and if they see a good source of food, they will be around.

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Birds have flown the coop/neighborhood?

I have had worse counts when I was at the apartment last year, but I couldn't believe the meager number of birds to count for Project FeederWatch this weekend. I don't even need to put it in a list format, there were so few: House Finch - 3, Northern Cardinal - 1, Blue Jay - 3. The neighborhood was practically void of birds and bird song.

I have noticed the decline in the birds for about a week now. Last weekend, I know there was a hawk prowling the area, but it hasn't been visible since. I do have a guess though. The three Blue Jays that I counted this weekend were rowdily screaming at something in the neighbor's magnolia tree. Unfortunately, magnolias don't drop their leaves so I couldn't see what was upsetting them. But I'm speculating that it could be an owl. Last night at about 9:00 I heard a Barred Owl calling, then a commotion as it flew to the ground to catch something. I could see hardly anything, but I did see its shadow flying away. So I'm wondering if it is roosting in the magnolia.

No birds so no bird pictures. I'll share a couple pictures of my other favorite subjects: Lucy & Topaz lounging under the Christmas tree.



This is their first Christmas tree so I was kind of worried. Lucy did try to climb it the first day, but luckily they haven't broken any ornaments. They do like to gently swat at them to hear the bells tinkling. Well, I guess they like the sound of the bells. Who knows with cats.

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