Goldfinches, Juncos and Chickadees
A Dark-eyed Junco took refuge from this week’s snow storm in our White Spruce.
The butterflies, moths, bees and other fascinating insects have either moved south or are hibernating in stems or underground, and I do miss them. Thank goodness some species of birds are here for us to enjoy. Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches and Black-capped Chickadees are here everyday, pretty much all day long, while Blue Jays, Pine Siskins, White-breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Mourning Doves and American Crows occasionally turn up. It’s fun to see these hardy autumn birds choose what to eat. Juncos and goldfinches are seed eaters and take full advantage of what’s left on the native plants, while chickadees also eat other food items.
The junco on the left is showing off its’ amazing seed-cracking bill, while the one on the right flies off after grabbing a Prairie Dropseed seed. These birds are here in small numbers year round, but in the spring and summer they are busy nesting and raising young at about 3000 feet, so we don’t see them much until fall.
American Goldfinches (above) are also here year round, and we saw them in the garden over the summer gathering nesting materials from Evening Primrose. Now they are eating seeds left behind by that plant and other native plants. The goldfinch on the bottom right is eating the seeds of the liatris, the ones on the left and the top right are eating echinacea seeds, and the one in the middle right seems to be eyeing a chokeberry, although they are primarily seed eaters.
Black-capped Chickadees are the leaders in the bird world. They are usually the first to check out a food source while other species wait to see how it goes. Their “dee-dee-dee” call is an alarm understood by all the birds nearby. The more “dees” there are, the greater the threat. So if you hear lots of calling from a flock of chickadees, look for a nearby predator – an owl or a hawk – who is causing the ruckus. Here are a couple of “our” chickadees in the garden.
We were lucky enough to see our first American Tree Sparrow this week, and will be on the look out for Purple Finches, Red-breasted Nuthatches, White-throated Sparrows, Common Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks, Bohemian Waxwings, Barred Owls, and Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks in the coming weeks. At left is the very tame Barred Owl which often snoozed on our deck railing in the winter of 2021, attracted by the dozens Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls we had at our feeders that year! Fingers crossed for a repeat of that wonderful experience.