Monday, April 2, 2018

B is for Birds

I didn't know much about birds growing up. I knew that robins were a sign of spring and the cardinal was the West Virginia state bird. The rest of them were some version of brown and gray and built nests and laid eggs. That was about all I knew. That lack of knowledge was still evident when I was in college and my sister tried to take me bird watching. I couldn't even find the trees she was showing me, let alone the birds.

But that all changed several years ago when we put up a bird feeder for my husband's birthday. Watching our daily visitors was soon my new hobby. I slowly learned that many of the brown and gray ones were sparrows and the big black ones were crows (okay, maybe I already know that). But I learned you could tell the difference between crows and hawks in the air because hawks soar while crows just fly basically in straight line. The saying, "As the crow flies" comes from this that.

I learned that many of our woodpecker visitors were black and white and preferred suet to sunflower seeds. I also sadly learned a sapsucker woodpecker can kill a healthy maple tree in just a couple of years with the holes it pecks.

In the nesting boxes that soon followed our feeder, I learned that bluebirds can put up a pretty good fight defending their territory from sparrows, and chickadee chicks line themselves up in a circle with their tails in the middle and their heads facing outward. I also found out that wrens use twigs to build their nest and put spider egg sacks in them to help control the mites.

In addition, out of curiosity and a little googling one day, I learned that birds poop and pee at the same time. They only have one opening for all the business that needs to be done so when you look at a bird dropping the poop is the black part in the middle and the white is their pee, so to speak.

We don't have as many visitors to the feeders at our new house, but we will get there, I hope. In the meantime, I enjoyed the mockingbird, juncos, starlings, finches and crows that visited this morning. And I didn't have to ask my sister or anyone else what they were. These were birds I wouldn't have been about to identify a few years ago. Slowly and steady, I am happily learning.

Below are pictures of some of our visitors over the years.

Male and female cardinals--WV state bird as well as 6 other states

Bluebird guarding the nest box from sparrows.


Wren nest made from twigs. See the white fuzzy things?
Those are the spider sacs that will help control the mites.


A robin and buds on the tree. Both signs of spring.


Pileated and male downy woodpeckers enjoying the suet cakes.


I was better at identifying crows on the ground than in the air until I learned their flight pattern.


These very young chickadees have already lined themselves around the nest with their heads facing outwards.


I've read that the sapsuckers holes usually don't damage a tree. However, we had one determined bird who eventually killed my son's favorite climbing tree.



Besides learning about birds, I've also learned a lot about squirrels since we put up a feeder.





12 comments:

  1. I had to laugh about the fact of the poop and pee. I remember my grandma had a parrot and he would say hello every time some one passed. My grandma would talk to the parrot and he responded but only to hers.

    I don't know the names of the birds but I hear them all of the time since we moved to the country. I try to figure out where they are because we don't have many trees. Saturday morning as Hubby and I were prolonging in rising out of bed we heard a few chirping. I wondered what they were saying to each other so Hubby and I gave words to them. It was fun

    I do love the sound of them. I am in awe of how beautiful your pictures are of nature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like the perfect start to a Saturday morning--imagining what the birds are saying to each other. I do that with my cats all the time, but that's not so hard since we live together. I'll have to try it with birds sometime. Sounds like fun.

      Delete
  2. I love to have my morning coffee on the deck just to listen to the birds! I grew up in a house with feeders and The Bird Book of Alabama on a small table near the bay windows. I think we were required to identify birds. It was never optional.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So are you good at identifying birds? I find if I don't see a bird regularly, I have to look up it's name again or send my sister a picture.

      Delete
  3. I'm surprised you haven't been knowledgeable about birds till relatively recently. You've sure picked up a lot of information--and I'm also laughing about the poop/pee thing. I can only ID a few birds but I think one of my favorite things about spring is the increase in bird songs that I hear. One summer when we were camping, our tent was right underneath a bird's favorite perch--loved waking up to their cheerful song. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Birds are fascinating creatures as well as calming with their songs. I have been lucky that when I couldn't identify a bird, I would send a picture to my sister and she would help me.

      Delete
  4. Loved reading this post! I didn't know about the baby chickadees lining themselves with their heads to the outside. Makes it easier for them to fit themselves in the nest, I suppose. Didn't know about the wrens and the spider egg sacs, either! But, what I really want to know is how that squirrel got into that bird feeder and how he managed to get out! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That squirrel got in and out while we weren't looking. We were curious, too.

      Delete
  5. B is for beautiful because your bird photos are just that. I've come to love them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You take some pretty beautiful bird photos yourself. I'm still figuring out how to get good bird photos here. The set up is different with trees in different places along with the feeders.

      Delete
  6. I'm always so impressed with your bird pictures. I'm not very good at catching them before they fly off. Maybe if I cleaned the windows I could take pictures from inside... but I'd have to take the screens off. Hmm... Anyhow, I LOVE the squirrel in the bird feeder. Holy Moly! I'm amazed he didn't get stuck in there! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I took a lot of bird pictures from the inside. They didn't come around when I was outside and I rarely could sit still long enough for them to get used to me and come close. In this house, when I get close enough to the window to take a picture, they fly away. It's a work in progress.

      Squirrels are very clever and agile creatures. He did manage to get out, but it's still a mystery to me as to how.

      Delete

What do you think?