We had yet another visitor to our yard last week – a White-crowned Sparrow. It was a rare treat. We have two year-round sparrow residents in our yard – the House Sparrow and the Song Sparrow. Occasionally, we’ll see a Chipping Sparrow and there are some White-throated Sparrows around, but you don’t see many of the White-crowned Sparrows in Virginia, or at least I haven’t. Nancy … [Read more...]

As I went out to the back yard one morning this week, I caught sight of the tail ends of two black and white birds flying away. I thought at first they were a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, but the stark separation between the black and white made me wonder. When I returned to the house, I saw my visitors at the feeder. They were Red-breasted Grossbeaks and they were stunning. I have had a few … [Read more...]

We have birds that stay with us throughout the year, like the Cardinals  and Finches. We have birds such as  Cedar  Waxwings and Eastern Towhees that just stop by to say hello and we have some seasonal birds. The Snowbirds, for example, come in late fall and leave in the spring. Our Hummingbirds, of course, are summer visitors and the Brown Thrashers leave in the fall and return in the spring. So … [Read more...]

  I saw something this morning I had never seen before – or at least I had never noticed. There was an adult robin in the dogwood tree in the front yard fluttering its wings. I have seen bluebird adults do this to keep in touch and I have often seen baby birds flutter their wings to be fed, but never an adult robin. I believe it was a female trying to attract a male or at least say, … [Read more...]

I have had two special house guests in the past week. Fly-bys, actually. Birds. Ones I normally don’t see, Last week I had an Eastern Towhee stop by and say hello and then this week, three Cedar Waxwings paid a brief visit. I have been seeing Cedar Waxwings in the last few years, but only passing through. I see them along about now and again in mid-fall. I suppose they migrate through this … [Read more...]

  I saw him out in the driveway early this week, just sitting there as if to say, “What am I doing here?” It was an Eastern Towhee, the first one I’ve ever seen in or near my yard.  Some of my friends in Orange and Louisa have towhees, but we have not been so fortunate. Towhees are members of the sparrow family and are easily the loveliest and most colorful with a cluster of orange, … [Read more...]

  After being a drab olive for six months, my male goldfinches are beginning to put on the Ritz, molting into a new suit of bright gold feathers. I always thought the birds’ feathers changed colors, but they don’t. The birds grow new and entirely differently colored feathers. The goldfinch is the only one in its family to undergo a complete, not a partial molt. Even the females get a … [Read more...]

Introducing…… In the black corner, we have “Rocky” Robin from Woodbrook in Charlottesville, defending his Featherweight title. “Rocky” has a wingspan 12-inches and comes in weighing a trim .17-pounds. In the red corner, fighting out of Hollymead, we have “Kid” Redbreast, a newcomer hoping to nest in the Brewer’s backyard. “The Kid” also weighs .17 pounds, but has a wingspan of 12.2 … [Read more...]

  I looked out the kitchen window and there sat a hawk. A big hawk. Wait, there was another. Two huge Red-tailed hawks were sunning themselves on a limb overlooking our goldfish pond, not thirty feet away. My natural inclination was to step outside and shoo the hawks away, but I noticed some songbirds feeding on the ground in the back of the yard, and they didn’t seemed concerned. Since … [Read more...]

They showed up last week. Five of them. Grackles. Damned grackles. This morning there were a dozen in my yard, in another week there will be fifty. I despise grackles. They bully my songbirds and eat all the food I put out. If there were only a dozen, I could handle that. But they are like the Hordes of Mongolia. They just keep coming and coming and coming. Most of my other birder friends don’t … [Read more...]