Harriers, Juncos, and Jays....Oh My!

Before putting the seeds out for the birds this year, I had never really noticed much bird activity during the winter. I always figured most of the really interesting birds left town for the season, so there was not much to see. This winter is teaching me otherwise.

Last Sunday, on the way to and at my mom's house in Sandy, we saw Black-billed Magpies, a Black-capped Chickadee in a pine tree in the back yard, a Common Raven flying over the neighborhood, and a hawk that I could not get a good enough look at to identify. When we returned home, we took some stale bread we had and went to a local park where we have often fed the ducks. The only problem this time was all the cold temperatures we have had lately had frozen the pond solid, so we decided to head to East Bay to see if we could find any ducks there. As we drove on the road the goes back behind the strip mall, we saw something amazing; four Northern Harriers we hanging out on the bank of the little stream that runs along the road. The group was composed of one adult male, at least one adult female, and either two more females or two juveniles. I am still working on my identifying skills, but looking at one of my field guides at home later made me think the others were likely juveniles. As we slowly drove by and watched them take flight, I was cursing myself for not having my camera with me.

We continued to drive toward a parking area near the lake at the golf course. On the way we saw four huge gray geese waddling along the road and a small flock of Canada Geese resting and eating the grass on the hillside by the landfill. At the lakeside, we fed the bread to the Mallards and American Coots that were in the open water. On the way back home, I decided to grab my camera and head back to where the harriers had been on the chance that they would return. Here is what we saw:

The harriers were eating what was left of a dead coot by the water, which is why we were lucky enough to see them when we came back. The light was better when we first saw them, but I was happy to be able to get these pictures. I also managed to get a nice picture of a mallard and a coot nearby.

Posing for the camera. Thank goodness for long lenses.

Yesterday morning, I noticed that there a lot of birds eating some seed I had tossed out on the driveway. It had gotten wet in the bowl and I did not want it to freeze solid. I got dressed, grabbed my camera, and quietly opened the door and stood in the entryway at the bottom of the stairs. That put me at just about level with the driveway. The house sparrows that had been eagerly gobbling up the seed before I opened the door fled at the first sight of me, but I decided to quietly wait to see if they would come back. They never did, but I was soon delighted by the appearance of this fellow.

We had seen a Western Scrub Jay at the seed bowl before, but this one's appearance was entirely unexpected. Of course I heard him before he actually appeared, but I was still glad to get a good shot of him. He scooped up some of the bigger bits and then flew off. Not too long after his exit, I had these birds show up.

I was actually surprised that I was able to get photos of these Dark-eyed Juncos. When they have stooped at the seed bowl in the past, they have been even more skittish than the sparrows, but these two seemed totally unperturbed by my presence in the stair well. They were fun to watch.

Like I said, the sparrows never did come back. I listened to four European Starlings sitting on the power line making noises imitating everything from a car alarm to a Black-capped Chickadee. They were rather amusing. I also saw a Eurasian Collared Dove, but the mist was too thick to take a good photo. All in all, it was a very fun morning.

The Birds Outside Our Window

This winter has been the kind of winter I remember from my childhood; white and cold. The snow has remained on the ground because temperature inversions have kept the highs from even reaching freezing. With low temperatures in the single digits (or even below zero), I worried about the small birds having enough to eat to survive the more extreme cold. As I mentioned last time, I decided to put out some bird seed in a bowl nestled in a planter we have at the top of the stairs leading down to our front door. I did not relish coming across a small feathered body frozen in the snow, a victim of the winter deep freeze.

At first, there was little activity. We have always had a few small birds hanging out in the shrubs along the driveway, but activity at the seed bowl was fairly low for a couple of days. Then things began to slowly pick up. At first we had a few House and American Tree Sparrows, but before long a few Dark-eyed Juncos were visiting as well. As time goes by, the crowds seem to grow. Yesterday we even had a Western Scrub Jay stop by and sample the meager fare we have supplied. I enjoy watching the birds through our living room window. If I am careful, I can get quite close without disturbing them, and the planter is only a couple of feet from the window. Overall, there seems to be little fighting among the ever-growing flock, and it is quite amazing to see as many as eight sparrows crowded around and in the seed dish at any given time. Who knows what has visited when I was not looking? All I know is that I am glad that I can do something to help these amazing creatures.

So far I have been using a fairly inexpensive generic bird seed that I bought at Walmart. I wanted to see how well the idea worked because I was a little concerned about the seed dish being so close to the house. I also do not have a place for a feeder, so I put the dish in our planter. I figured it was out in the open enough to allow the birds plenty of warning against hunting felines. I knew that any increased bird activity would also attract any roaming cats. We have actually seen one calico hunter stare into our window twice, but as far as I can tell, it's feathered prey remain safe from attack.

I recently bought a three-tube feeder at Walmart ($5 clearance; what a steal) that I plan to hang on a metal shepherd's hook once the ground is no longer frozen solid. I plan to load it with three different types of seed and see what we can attract. Until then, I will probably upgrade the seed a bit. Though the sparrows seem to love what we have now, I would like to see if we can attract any other birds that might be in the area. I'll be sure to share any new sightings. I am eager to see what we can attract with feeder.

New Year, New Blog

With the start of a new year, I decided to start a new blog that is much more focused than anything I have tried before. I was thinking about what I should write about when something happened yesterday on the way to Walmart, of all places, that led me to where I am now; but more about that in a minute. I decided I would write about birds; more specifically, my experiences watching and photographing them.

I call this blog 'An Accidental Birder' because I don't recall making a conscious decision to become one. I have always liked birds and have always enjoyed the sight of a large raptor sailing the thermals, looking for its next meal; or even catching sight of something small and yellow flitting between the trees. Birds have always interested me, but my current enthusiasm began with reading Under A Wild Sky by William Souder, a biography of John James Audubon, for a book group. Every member of the group would nominate books to read. Each member would then rank the list is order of interest, with the book they were most interested in reading having the highest points (say, 5 points for the the one you wanted to read most if there were five books listed). We used this system to choose what we would read, and each month, after completing the book, we would get together to discuss and and have an activity organized by the member who nominated the book. Sometimes these activities were related to the book, sometimes not, but it was always an enjoyable time. I miss it.

For this particular May, after reading about Audubon, it seemed only natural to do some bird watching. We piled into Joe's van, bought some KFC (Audubon used to eat many of the birds he shot for study, so this seemed like appropriate fare), and drove out to the levee between Utah Lake and Provo City Airport to see what we could spot. On that trip, we saw barn swallows, mallards, a kingbird, brown-headed cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, as some American coots, as I recall. One of the best sightings came near the end of our excursion. Not long after talking about how Brandon had never seen an owl, and many of us sharing the owl sightings we had had in the past, we noticed something in the middle of the road, staring into the car's headlights. It was not very big, and made no effort to move from the road. As we approached closer, we could soon tell that the creature staring at us was a burrowing owl; the first any of us had seen. It was a great way to end what was a very enjoyable evening. It also planted the birding seed in me.

Prior to this adventure, I had never been out to the levee; I had not even known it existed. Now it has become a favourite haunt whenever it is passable. It took awhile for me to return a second time, but when my wife and I drove out the following November, we saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk in the trees above the road. At that point I think I was finally hooked. The hawk was an incredible sight. He sat up in the tree looking right at me for a few moments as I took pictures of him. He seemed unconcerned by my presence, and I was careful to give him no reason to feel threatened. It was an incredible moment.

The Red-tailed Hawk, looking right at me

My fascination with birding got another boost when I met Bob last year. Bob is a friend of our landlords upstairs, and while we had informally met some time ago, we became better acquainted last spring. My wife and I were just heading out for a trip to the levee when Bob came out with his binoculars. He saw my camera bag and made a comment about us heading out and I told him we were going down by the lake to look for birds. He was quite pleased to meet fellow enthusiasts. He had just been heading into the back yard to watch for birds there as he was working on his own 'Big Year'. Needless to say, we have become quite good friends with he and his wife. We have taken Bob down to the lake with us on several occasions and hope to visit them soon at their home in California. It is always fun to compare notes and share sitings.

Now back to what made me decide to do this blog. Early yesterday morning, while driving with my wife to the Springville Walmart in the snow, I noticed a large bird flying the opposite direction. The closer we got, the bigger the bird seemed. Though the snow was dictating a slow pace, I slowed even more in order to get a better look at this large creature majestically flying through the snow as if it was totally unconcerned. We soon realized that we were looking at a bald eagle. I have never wished I had my camera as much as I did at that moment. He was an amazing sight, gliding through the snow-filled air not more than 100 feet above the ground. It is not often that a trip to Walmart yields such a rewarding experience. That was when I decided that I would write a blog about my bird adventures.

Also contributing to my decision is the fact that this year we are actually seeing a real winter, complete with frigid temperatures and a blanket of white that has been with us since before Christmas. Knowing how difficult the conditions are for the birds that are still around, I decided that I would place some seed in a plastic bowl near our front door. We only rent, so I have not hung a feeder, but I may put something in our part of the garden we share as soon as I can afford it. So far, response has been quite good to the seed bowl, though I would like to see less of the cat that the bird activity has attracted. It seems like such a small thing to provide some extra food for these small creatures, and we have even attracted a few Dark-eyed Juncos in addition to the sparrows. Who knows what will turn up next.

I am also keeping a list of all the birds I see this year. It's not really anything you would call a 'Big Year', but I thought it would be interesting to see how many species I see in a single year. I'll share my list as I add to it.

There we have it for now. A new blog begun, with more to come.