Saturday, April 30, 2011

Tweet and See: April 2011



We've created QUITE a bird sanctuary here! Driving down our dirt road lined with evergreens, you can often see SWARMS of birds flying around our house.  And their different sounds fill the air and mix with the Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs that are out now.


We had TONS of Dark-eyed Juncos, both male and female, visiting our feeders this month. Our trees, lawn and driveway would be scattered with them! 
Dark-eyed Junco - Photo Credit www.indiana.edu
A pair of mallards, swimming in from our flooded backyard from next door, visiting almost daily to eat seed and corn fallen to the ground from the squirrels and birds. We found it interesting that one would crane it's neck, watching, while the other ate, and then they would switch.

We were VERY excited to see female Red-winged Blackbirds flying around and eating from the feeders. And there are BABIES! The fledglings are just a little bigger than the Juncos, with striped heads and brown-and-white bodies.
Female Red-winged Blackbird - Photo Credit NJM 2010
Male Red-winged Blackbird - Photo Credit Jim Fenton
We're now up to 5 Mourning Doves. Oftentimes we can see them roosting on the branches of our crab apple or cherry trees near the feeders, fluffed in the chill. I believe there are 4 females and 1 male.
Mourning Dove - Photo Credit www.naturepicsonline.com
We've been hearing woodpeckers, but haven't seen any to identify. 

We had 2 male purple finches visit the feeders at the end of the month. Their bright red color is easy to see in the dark green evergreens.
Male Purple Finch - Photo Credit by www.myphotoclub.com
April 2011
Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Cardinal
Mourning Dove
Dark-eyed Junco
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Rusty Blackbird*
Common Eider*+
Pine Siskin* 
American Crow*+ 
Mallard 
Purple Finch*
America Robin
Donald and Daisy Mallard Visiting Our Feeders
Master List
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Black-capped Chickadee 
Common Eider+
American Crow+
Pileated Woodpecker+
Bald Eagle+
Blue Jay
Common Redpoll
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Mourning Dove
American Crow+
Wild Turkey
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Tufted Titmouse
Gray Jay
Canada Goose+
Great Blue Heron+
Mallard
Herring Gull+
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Ruffed Grouse


*denotes new species this month
+denotes saw in an area NOT in our backyard

4 comments:

  1. When we lived in VA we had tons of red winged black birds by the lake where we lived. I was very fond of them:) In my backyard in the UK I only get black crows and Pigeons, the largest Pigeons I have ever seen:(

    ReplyDelete
  2. The mallards are so cute. Great list!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful! It took me For-Ev-Er to identify the female redwinged blackbird yesterday. My son kept saying it was, I kept saying it was a savannah sparrow, but the pictures won out. He was right. Really interesting how different they are!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't think we are cold enough the see the junco, but I would love to. You got me on the female red-winged, I never would have guessed it. Thanks for participating in Tweet and See!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts in the comment box. We love hearing from our visitors!