Bird Watching In The Backyard

A new arrival this week in our bird paradise is the Brown-headed Nuthatch. On Saturday, we became aware that a small flock had arrived and were enjoying seed from the feeder as well as the suet block. As we are new to bird watching, we have found ourselves studying more intently the Nuthatches and Chickadees as we realized what we thought was one was actually the other. What caused the confusion was the size of the birds. We had incorrectly thought that the Chickadee was the larger of the birds but this week discovered that it was the White Breasted Nuthatch that was larger and the Black-capped Chickadee was the smaller. What had added to our confusion was the fact that the Brown-headed Nuthatch is actually small like the Chickadee. How much we have to learn and what a joy it is!

It was quite active in our bird paradise this morning as the sun welcomed us to bright blue skies and surprisingly warm temperatures for early February. All varieties of sparrows flocked around the nyjer seed feeder, darting in and out of the throngs of visitors to get a full beak. From our original all purpose feeder that contains several different seed varieties, a colorful mix of Cardinal and Bluejay considered the wide variety of offerings as they took turns visiting the feeder while an Eastern Towhee caught the remnants on the ground below, Meanwhile, over at the bird bath, our state bird the Thrasher took a drink and a dip, ignoring the chaos unfolding at the nyjer seed feeder only a few feet away. From a nearby pine tree, a Chickadee considered the empty suet feeder as the writer took note that it was probably time to go out into the yard and refill all the feeders for what appears to be a full day of feeding.