A day or two after the snow started melting and patches of the Albemarle County tundra appeared; the robins returned from Capistrano or from wherever they had been hanging out. Dozens – make that hundreds – of our red breasted friends swarmed in to take advantage of the worms and grubs which made their way towards the top of the ground. Worms head deep in the dry, hot summertime and fall, but … [Read more...]

Birders are notoriously generous. We feed the bluebirds, cardinals, woodpeckers, titmice, bluejays, finches and all those who fly up to feeders – but what about the sparrows? The ground feeders? They get hungry, too. I do my best to feed them, along with others, like the snowbirds and doves. The most common backyard sparrows are the house sparrows and the song sparrows. Occasionally, a chipping … [Read more...]

If my war on squirrels were a book, it might surpass War and Peace in pages. It is the saga of the eternal battle between Man and Rodents and I’m not sure the humans will win this one. I have tried multiple gizmos to keep the squirrels out of my expensive sunflower hearts and most efforts end in squirrel victories. I have applied baffles to the feeder poles, yet there is one squirrel who can … [Read more...]

It broke my heart last week to see the birds that I normally feed in my back yard do without. I simply could not get out in the yard because of the ice. It was as slick as glass, and I couldn’t risk a broken arm or leg trying to slide my way out to the feeders and bird bath. And I couldn’t get to the shed where I store my seed. I did step out on the back deck and tossed some bird seed and nuts … [Read more...]

Here is my annual plea to fellow birders to put out a heated bird bath. Our little friends need water, especially in freezing weather, to survive. Many, many people put out feeders – something like $500 million is spent annually on bird seed, but for bird baths – not so much. I have a ton of songbirds in my yard, but it didn’t happen by accident. I provide multiple food sources and seed … [Read more...]

“That ain’t exactly chicken feed!” Well, actually, it is. I bought a bag of chicken feed expressly to feed my doves, sparrows, snowbirds and other ground feeders. Those birds, among others, feed almost exclusively on the ground and rarely fly up to a feeder but rather peck away at any food scattered on the ground. I have 5 raised feeders but feel sorry for the little ground feeders who get … [Read more...]

I have one squirrel in my yard who has figured out how to bypass the baffles on my bird feeders. I don’t know how he does it. I’ve never caught him in the act. He either somehow shimmies up and over the baffle or takes extraordinary leaps from the ground or the bushes and cover nearby. But somehow, this one squirrel finds his way up and into to my pricey sunflower hearts. But in my ongoing … [Read more...]

For the first time in memory there are no squirrel nests in any tree in my yard. I have squirrels. There were 7 of them out there this morning pilfering my bird seeds, but there are no nests. The reason is that all my maple trees are old timers, planted in the late 60’s and they now have lots of cavities, nooks and crannies. The tree just outside our bedroom window has a wonderful dugout hole … [Read more...]

We have had two snows in the last week, and though they weren’t big snows, it was enough to completely cover the grounds and cause extra stress on birds and animals. I have since been feeding my birds extra helpings of seeds and have been observing their activities.I have two basic feeding areas – one near the kitchen window and beneath my permanent feeders and the other in the way back near my … [Read more...]

As I pulled in the driveway one day last week, I saw a flock of unfamiliar birds splashing in and drinking water from our goldfish pond. There were 16 or 18 cardinal-sized birds, and I noticed flashes of yellow. Then I knew. It was a flock of Cedar Waxwings. I see these lovely birds once or twice a year as they pass through. Unfortunately, I don’t have any plants or trees in my yard from which … [Read more...]