I was golfing last week at Lake Monticello where, in addition to watching my balls sail around the course, I keep an eye out for wildlife. There are more deer at the Lake than resident humans, I believe, and lots of birds and animals. But about midway through my round I saw an unfamiliar bird with a brilliant white belly, but a jet-black body. Upon closer inspection, it was a Red-headed … [Read more...]

Like the swallows of Capistrano, they come back every year. My catbirds. They show up in early April, raise a nest of chicks or two, then they’re off for parts unknown. For the past several years, a pair of catbirds has nested in a hedge behind our house. They are really quite interesting. Some confuse catbirds with cowbirds. They sort of look alike, but catbirds are true songbirds while … [Read more...]

It’s been a good spring for local birders. Leah Leffler and I both had Indigo Buntings pay us a visit. In fact, she still has them. I also had a flock of Cedar Waxwings stop by for a birdbath and Sue Overton saw a rare Blue Grosbeak at her feeder in Waynesboro. Another bird-watching friend, Sherman Shifflett recently saw a Scarlet Tanager perched in a nearby pine tree beside his house in Louisa. … [Read more...]

I’ve had some surprise visitors in my back yard this spring – a flock of cedar waxwings and then a pair of male Indigo Buntings. Sue Overton in Waynesboro one-upped me with a pair of Blue Grosbeaks that hung around her yard for a couple days. Blue Grosbeak sightings are usually few and far between. I have had Rose Breasted Grosbeaks pay my yard a visit on occasion, but never their blue … [Read more...]

“Come quick! There is a new bird at the feeder!” When my wife Nancy spoke those words, I came-a runnin’. For us birders, there is nothing more exciting than to see a visitor in your back yard. Picking sunflower hearts from the feeder were two beautiful Indigo Buntings, the first I can ever remember seeing in our yard. They stayed for a while, then left, and I haven’t seen them since. I … [Read more...]

I had just put a handful of mealworms in the bowl near the bluebird house and stood back to watch the male fly to the feeder and secure a beak full of worms. Suddenly, a hawk swooped over the fence, talons stretched, heading for the bluebird. Fortunately, the hawk missed as the bluebird ducked quickly, but these bluebirds are like my children, only better behaved. Startled and extremely upset, I … [Read more...]

If you want a delightful serenade, go outside one morning right after sunup, and if there is a Carolina Wren anywhere in the area, you’ll get the serenade of a lifetime. These little fellows love to sing. I have two types of wrens in my backyard – the House Wren and the Carolina Wren. I saw my little Carolina Wren at the feeder yesterday afternoon and heard him singing when I went to retrieve … [Read more...]

Looks like we’ll have a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers nesting in a cavity of an old white maple in the back of our yard. I saw them swoop that way this morning and there are lots of hollow places in that old tree from which to choose a nesting site. Many people confuse the Red-bellied Woodpecker with the less common Red-headed Woodpeckers. Red-bellied Woodpeckers do have red heads, but not … [Read more...]

Currently, I am providing mealworms for two bird families. My old friends, the bluebird couple from last year, have reclaimed their bluebird house on the fence. The eggs have been laid and the hen is on the nest. There is also a pair of cardinals that got in on the mealworm action last summer. They know my habits and me personally and when I go out to drop a handful of mealies in the bluebird food … [Read more...]