Our Wildlife Companions #38: At The Birdfeeder - (No Pictures)

How nice to see the arrival of so many birds to your birdfeeder. Wish you will try to get a a few snaps of them in spite of unfavourable weather. I was fascinated to see that chickadee is a Canadian term of familiar or affectionate address to a girl or young woman! The bird’s alarm call “chick-a dee dee dee” is also very interesting. I also found that the nuthatch get their common name from their habit of jamming large nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to hatch out the seed from the inside. How wonderful! My search to know about these birds, strange to me, revealed that bird junco is the spelling of the bird and not junko. Junko is a common feminine Japanese name and also name of a famous singer.

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

(I fixed the spelling error.. thanks)

They are interesting, aren’t they!
They may not be as colourful as other birds around the world but they are so fun to watch.

Pictures… I might drag out my good camera to get some pictures sometime. The one I’m using now doesn’t like looking through the screens on the windows .. The grids show up on the pictures.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

My feeders were really slow this fall and beginning winter…...That is until the snow. Constant activity at the feeders now and I’m especially thrilled that there are, at least six pr of cardinals at the feeders.

I wonder if the ‘red-headed WP’ you thought you saw was a Red-bellied WP? I have only seen one at my feeders…years ago. How exciting for you…and even more so if you could get a pic of it. They have the completely red head, white under body and black back with white flashes on the wings. So many other wp’s have the black and white ladder back to id them, like this red-bellied wp.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

It definitely had a red hood that wrapped around under its neck.
My bird book only has one that matches that—the red-headed.

I wish Rick had seen it because he is much better at identifying features to get the right species.

re: cardinals.
We have a female cardinal that LOVES looking at itself, or talking to itself, or something .. in the mirrors on our vehicles. It is so funny to watch.
Don’t know if it is the same cardinal but we have one that is constantly tapping at our windows.
And then there is the little lady that sits at the empty birdfeeder that is just outside the window where my chair is. She will fly at and cling to the window’s screen, which gets my attention and then she sits on the birdfeeder, facing me, and rocks her head to the left and right as if saying, “hey, there is no birdfeed here… get on that, would you?”

I guess it is too far out of her way to fly around the corner of the house to the other feeder :D

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Isn’t it fun to watch them. And I do believe they associate the filling of the feeders with us. The little chickadees and the downy get very indignant if I let the feeders get low. The chickadees will come to the feeder while my hands are still on it while hanging it. I laugh at them and talk to them and they chickadee-dee-dee back at me. LOL

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

chickadees are definitely special little critters. So friendly.
A friend of mine said that when her daughter was a baby she’d go jogging through the woods, with her daughter in a backpack carrier .. and birdfeed in her hat. Her baby got to watch the chickadees come and feed from her hat!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Great photo, Iris!

Ms. Debbie, what a wonderful idea, to bring birds close to your grandson. Will you try the hat idea? : )

We are enjoying all the birds feasting in our crab apple trees and holly bushes. The snow definitely brings them close to their relaible food sources.

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

no, I don’t think I’ll do the hat idea haha I’ll stick to the bird feeder outside his window!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)