FOX SPARROW!!!

What a great couple of days of birdfeeding! Something about snow showers drive our birds into a feeding frenzy. I Love it! Pileated has been in the backyard for two days straight. I counted over 120 American Goldfinches on feeders and while watching the ground feeders outcomes a Fox Sparrow. We have had Fox Sparrows the past two winters but never in November. Maybe this will be the birdfeeding winter we've hoped for the past few years... Snowbirds!

Birdcam pics 11/10-11/08

Here are some pictures from the Wingscapes Birdcam of a ground feeder in our yard...

White-throated Sparrow

Tufted Titmouse (mice)

Northern Cardinals

Cool female Cardinal in flight!

American Goldfinches

Kaya, our Australian Shepherd

Happy Birthday, Mom!

This Grey Catbird was taken with the Wingscapes Birdcam last summer on a Kozy Bird Spa. As we gear up for winter birdfeeding and begin to welcome our winter bird friends (note: Dark-eyed Juncos were in high numbers in our yard today!), it is always nice to reflect on the season before. Catbirds are one my favorite summer birds. Mimics like the Northern Mockingbird and Brown Thrasher, catbirds are great songsters and our known for their cat-like meow. Many frequent the brushy parts in our yard and like many birds, they love brush piles. We feed them suet dough and mealworms and they are always frolicing in the birdbaths. In the winter, catbirds move back to their tropical wintering grounds but will begin to return next April to raise their young again.

Snowbirds are back!

Known as snowbirds in the Cincinnati tri-state area because they usually show up around the 1st snowfall of the season and leave by or shortly after the last snowfall going into Spring. Dark-eyed Juncos are now showing up at feeders and more-likely underneath feeders. Junco's are a small native sparrow (unlike House Sparrows, which are european Old World Weaver Finches) which nest in northern Michigan and Canada. Like the other native sparrows in our yards, Eastern Towhees, Song Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, White-hroaed Sparrows and Fox Sparrows to name a few, Juncos usually feed on the ground looking for seeds and insects underneath the forest leaf litter. At feeders, all sparrows love white millet, cracked corn and sunflower seeds. This time of year, we broadcast white millet around the brush piles and near ground feeders to make sure these winter beauties have plenty to eat as they make themselves home again on their tropical winter grounds of Cincinnati.