It's too bad I wasn't counting butterflies this weekend. There were plenty of them in the yard, in spite of windy conditions. Monarchs, fritillaries, sulphurs, swallowtails, and skippers all were present in large numbers. Birds? Not so much.
Both days of the weekend were quite windy as well as overcast and occasionally misty - not ideal conditions for finding or observing birds - but I was able to tally thirteen species, none of them very numerous except for the House Sparrows, for my first weekend of FeederWatch reporting. At the height of the feeding season in late December and January, I will normally have at least twice that many species feeding in the yard. But for this first weekend, here's what I saw.
Eurasian Collared-dove
White-winged Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Northern Cardinal
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Wren
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
House Sparrow
I hope for better conditions and more birds next weekend.
The Red Breasted Nuthatch is still at the feeder. Hope he spends the winter with us. Thought I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet the other day. Do they use the feeder?
ReplyDeleteI thought I saw a Red-breasted Nuthatch in a neighbor's pine tree today but I could never completely verify it. I'm hoping it will come on over to my yard tomorrow.
DeleteYes, Ruby-crowned Kinglets do visit feeders. They are especially fond of suet but will also take seeds. Usually, they don't start coming to my feeders until later in the season and I haven't seen them there yet, although I do see and hear them around the yard every day now. They are fun birds to observe.