{BIRD NOTES} ~ March 29, 2011

A Yard Full of Common Redpolls © Barbara Cole

 

Bird Notes

 

 

A Yard Full of Redpolls

We are still being inundated, very gladly, with a huge flock of Redpolls (see photo and count them --many others were out back and in the trees!!) that have been with us for months now. Junco numbers increasing to five, single male Cardinal beginning to sing daily and six Bohemian Waxwings seen on the apple tree . The usual chickadees, both red and white breasted nuthatches and both hairy and downy woodpeckers were joined by our first Robin and four male Red Winged Blackbirds . The Raven flies by most every day and a flock of 140 Canada geese passed struggling to fly north but being blown completely sideways by the strong wind the other day.

          Saw a very reddish Red- tailed Hawk on the ground at the exit three grass circle on Tuesday 3/23. It hopped over to something but we were in traffic~~~

---Barbara Cole, Wilmington, VT

 

 

Brown Creeper

I was hoping to see the Greater White-fronted Goose that had been reported in the area, but no such luck. As a consolation,  when filling my birdfeeder I saw this little Brown Creeper run up the trunk of the crab appletree by our deck. I see one maybe once or twice a year and although they are reported to visit suet feeders I have never seen one doing that. Here are some photos:

http://onejackdawbirding.blogspot.com/2011/03/cryptic-bird.html

---Hilke Breder, Brattleboro, VT

 

 

Shrike at Retreat

A Northern Shrike is hanging out along the bittersweet fence at the water treatment plant just off of Rt. 30 in Brattleboro.

---Dave Johnston, W. Brattleboro, VT

 

 

Waterfowl off Marina Rd.

Cornfield off of Marina Rd.: 9 Snow Geese and 1 immature Blue Goose along with 50 Canada Geese walking atop the manure piles at the west end. In the puddle on the water treatment property were 3 pair of Green-winged Teal. Also had 2 Song Sparrows, 2 Turkey Vultures and a Red-tailed Hawk.

 

 

Keene Birds

At Cornwell Road in Keene, NH we observed a colorful male Green-winged Teal, a handsome male Pintail and several Mallards and Canada Geese.

 

 

Wild Turkeys are Multiplying

The number of Turkeys visiting our yard and gleaning the wild bird seed that we sprinkle under the pines for the Dark-eyed Juncos and other regulars, has hit a high count of 28!

 

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Please share your birding news with us.

What have you got coming to your feeders?

Are there any birds nesting in your yard?

What have you seen while on a trip?

Drop us an e-mail chpmnkx@sover.net

 

 Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

Check out our website:  http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.

 

{BIRD NOTES} ~ March 00, 2011

Bird Notes

 

White-winged Crossbill at Putney School

Visiting the Putney School Campus today I ran into Ken Klapper from Keene. Among the birds we saw were a flock of about 8 Common Redpolls in the tree overhead and one on the feeder at the Reynolds house, also one or more Red-breasted Nuthatches, several Goldfinches, a flock of Bohemian Waxwings in the top of a tall tree and a male White-winged Crossbill on a feeder by the campus kitchen. Here are some photos of the Crossbill:

http://onejackdawbirding.blogspot.com/2011/03/winter-visitor-white-winged-crossbill.html

 

I’d like to thank David Moon of Putney School for sending out alerts on the presence of  these birds.

---Hilke Breder, Brattleboro, VT

 

 

A Snipe was observed on Westminster West Rd. today.
---Don Clark, Grafton, VT

 

 

Sure Signs of Spring

This morning, March 8th, I have 6 Redwing Blackbirds singing from a tree announcing their return - how happy i am to see them.

---Susan James, Guilford, VT

 

 

Wilmington Birds

A huge flock of over 100 Goldfinches and Redpolls are regulars here, along with a gang of 8 Blue Jays, Chickadees, Titmice and Nuthatches.  The Cardinal couple comes occasionally, when he isn't singing his heart out on the tallest tree  (Spring IS coming!)  The first Red-winged Blackbirds visited yesterday, but most interesting is a GREAT-HORNED OWL who tries to hunt birds and red squirrels at my feeders, but the Crows are very vocal and aggressive about chasing him away.  Never saw one around here before.  The Owls must be a bit desperate for food with all the little critters safely tunneled under all this snow.

---Mary Ann McLeod, Wilmington, VT

 

 

Westminster Birds

A pair of Titmice have returned to our feeder after being absent for most of the winter.  I presume it was the male singing that made me look out for it.   We have had Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers and Nuthatches at the feeder in addition to the ever present Chickadees. 

---Tom Prunier, Westminster, VT

 

 

At the Meadows and Dam

There was a N. Shrike perched in a tree at the Retreat Meadows just past the boat launch on Rt 30 about 9:00 AM.
Above the dam in Vernon about 10:00AM- 4 A. Wigeon, 10 N. Pintail, 1 Pied-billed Grebe, 9 C. Mergansers, 4 Hoodies, 1 Ring-billed Gull, and 3 Red-winged Blackbirds.
---Dave Johnston, W. Brattleboro, VT

 

 

NHA Late Winter Bald Eagle Count

New Hampshire Audubon coordinated the statewide late winter count, which took place on Saturday 2/26/2011, except in the Lakes Region where we conducted it on Thursday 2/24/2011.  A grand total of 52 observers participated this time, compared to a 6-yr average of just over 57 observers annually during the 2005 thru 2010 late winter counts. 

 

On the 2011 Late Winter Survey Day, we located 54 eagles (34 adults, 20 immatures) statewide, exactly the same number of eagles as seen in NH during the January 2011 Mid-winter Survey Day (37 adults, 15 immatures, 2 undetermined age).  Compared to the six prior NH late winter surveys from February 2005 thru 2010, the 54 eagles seen this year was slightly below the six-year average of just over 57 eagles seen per count day. 

 

In the Connecticut River Area a total of 11 eagles were seen, including 6 adult eagles seen on survey day, plus 5 additional adult eagles and 1 immature confirmed during the two-week count period. 

__________________

*In keeping with the protocol of the national mid-winter survey, any sub-adult plumage eagles (including almost full adult plumage birds with only minor remnants of their immature plumage) are defined as immatures rather than as adults in these surveys.

 

With March finally here, NH's bald eagle breeding season is now underway, as is the case throughout New England.  Our breeding pairs will be starting to incubate very soon!  I hope that this spring you can get outside and help us monitor New Hampshire's breeding eagles at a nest in your area! .---Chris Martin, Senior Biologist Conservation Department, New Hampshire Audubon   www.nhaudubon.org

 

* * * * * *

REMEMBER TO ADVANCE YOUR CLOCKS ONE HOUR BEFORE RETIRING ON SATURDAY EVENING

Here is a clock that will be helpful in more ways than one:

           http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please share your birding news with us.

What have you got coming to your feeders?

Are there any birds nesting in your yard?

What have you seen while on a trip?

Drop us an e-mail chpmnkx@sover.net

 

 Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

Check out our website:  http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.

 

 

{BIRD NOTES} ~ March 7, 2011

Bird Notes

Chipmunk Crossing Birds
The 12 Wild Turkeys are still making their daily visit for cracked corn. As you can see from the attached photo they like the mixed bird seed too. A male Cardinal is establishing its territory by singing up a storm from different locations around our little acre. Yesterday a Hairy Woodpecker made a rare appearance and landed atop the telephone pole and drummed out a message for several minutes. On Thursday 6 Common Redpolls stopped by for some white millet and on Friday a lone Pine Siskin flew in wth a few Goldfinches for some Nyger seed.

 

Putney Polls
This warm  rainy morning has brought all kinds of surprises at my very soggy feeder.  The much talked about Redpolls made their first appearance here, a flock of 80-100 mobbed the feeder area. Very skittish about the squirrels, however.  I also was cheered by the first Red-winged Blackbird of the year who tried to get into the action but was chased away by  6 bullies of the Blue Jay gang.
---Burt Tepfer, Putney, VT


Bohemian Waxwings in Rockingham
A flock that varies from 70 to 140 Bohemian Waxwings, first seen on 2/28, continues on Hitchcock Hill in Rockingham.
---JoAnne Russo, Saxtons River, VT


Birds at Putney School Continue
There were several Pine Siskins amongst Goldfinches, the male (White-winged)Crossbill, and plenty of Common Redpolls at my feeders this morning. Bohemian Waxwings are calling in the background, too. Its a bonanza.
---David Moon, Putney School, Putney, VT


Selective Sightings in Putney, Brattleboro and Vernon
The morning started out with a flock of at least 100 Bohemian Waxwings and ~20 Cedar Waxwings in a tree by our house on Bonnyvale Rd in W. Bratt. At Putney School a male White-winged Crossbill, ~50 C. Redpolls, and 2 Carolina Wrens were the highlights. Above the dam in Vernon, early afternoon, there was 1 male Red-breasted Merganser, 1 male Bufflehead, 1 Pied-billed Grebe, and 12 Ring-necked Ducks. About 35 C. Goldeneye were feeding below the dam. I was very surprised to find 4 Lapland Longspurs feeding in the manure piles across from the Pond RD, RTE 142 intersection along with ~ 100 Horned Larks. I observed a flock of Snow buntings flying to the south but didn't get a count. Three Red-winged Blackbirds were perched along Rte 142.  Back in Bratt. 4 Turkey Vultures were circling around the intersection of Spruce St and Western Ave. Finally, the Merlin that I first observed 2/7 and haven't seen for two weeks was perched in a tree at the corner of Mather Rd and Bonnyvale Rd.
---Dave Johnston, West Brattleboro, VT



Feeder Birds Choice of Seed

1. Birds require foods with high nutritional content, especially protein and fat. A bird’s diet must fuel a metabolism that can require up to a whopping 10,000 calories a day (equivalent to a human consuming 155,000 calories). A bird’s inner furnace burns especially hot during flight and the breeding season and on the coldest days.
This means birds must make highly efficient choices about what they eat. A backyard feeder is an especially efficient place to forage because it mimics what scientists call a “resource patch,” a cluster of food much like a fruit-laden apple tree.
But don’t worry that birds will become too dependent on your feeders. Evolutionary pressures encourage birds to continuously sample a wide variety of foods because any bird that becomes dependent on a single patch or type of food will perish if it runs out.
2. Birds must have high-quality food. Birds are remarkably proficient at assessing potential food items for nutritional content and quality. If you watch your feeder closely, you may observe the animals lightly rattling individual seeds in their bills to weigh and taste them before deciding whether to drop them to the ground or eat them.
Low-quality foods are discarded and a consistently low-quality food patch may be avoided for a while—a behavior called “neophibia” that explains why birds learn to avoid your feeder if you put out old, moldy or inedible seeds.
3. Birds choose seeds that are easily handled and digested. This finding emphasizes that for birds, eating is not only about nutrition but about consuming a lot of food very quickly while avoiding predators. Research has shown that given a choice between high-quality, cumbersome seeds or low-quality, easily handled seeds, birds consistently choose the latter.
The bottom line:For these reasons and others, the study found that the most highly sought after seeds are: black oil sunflower, white proso millet, nyjer (thistle) seed and sunflower chips. Whichever seeds you buy, a growing body of evidence shows that backyard feeding helps wild birds—the animals’ growth rates, survival rates, breeding success and clutch sizes all improve markedly when they have access to feeders.
Adapted from “For the Birds: Which Seeds Are Best ?” by David Lukas, National Wildlife , October/November 2009.

Learn more about bird feeding: NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat™ Program provides homeowners with all the information they need to create quality outdoor spaces for birds using native plants as well as bird feeders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please share your birding news with us.
What have you got coming to your feeders?
Are there any birds nesting in your yard?
What have you seen while on a trip?
Drop us an e-mail chpmnkx@sover.net

Al Merritt
W. Brattleboro, VT

Check out our website:
http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.