Backyard birds – The Jersey Birder

Thank goodness for backyard birds

Northern flicker clings to the bottom of a suet cage, its beak ready to pluck at the suet.

Cooped up at home for a couple of weeks after knee surgery, I’ve managed birding only by looking out the windows at home. I got a surprise yesterday when a Northern flicker parked on the suet feeder long enough for me to get my camera and take a few photos. Flickers visit our yard withContinue reading “Thank goodness for backyard birds”

Dee-dee-dee: How I love thee, chickadee

A black-capped chickadee perches on a tree branch.

My heart belongs to the chickadee. Black-capped or Carolina, I have no preference. Whichever of those perky, petite birds comes into range, I am in thrall and in love. [Note: This is a repost of the original post from Nov. 8, which I accidentally deleted.] This morning at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, I tookContinue reading “Dee-dee-dee: How I love thee, chickadee”

An annoyance of grackles descends

A flock of common grackles fills the blue sky overhead.

‘Tis the season for huge flocks of common grackles to fill the sky and, in recent days, descend into the front and back yards of our home. A quick Google search revealed that groups of the stolid black birds with iridescent purple heads can be called a flock or, more pointedly, a plague or anContinue reading “An annoyance of grackles descends”

Molting makes for some odd-looking birds

Pale-looking hairy woodpecker clinging to a feeder.

For many birds, mid- to late-summer is molting season. As a result, you may see some odd-looking ones like the “bald” male Northern cardinal we’ve been seeing in our yard. His head is black; the red feathers have fallen off. While looking out to the yard this afternoon, I was surprised to see a hairyContinue reading “Molting makes for some odd-looking birds”

A lesson in allofeeding

A mother sparrow feeds a young sparrow from her beak as both birds sit on a curved iron plant stand. They are seen through an orchid with white blossoms.

While doing my morning reading from my easy chair Wednesday, I looked up to see a pair of house sparrows perched on a plant hanger propped against one of our dining room windows. One bird was feeding the other, zipping back and forth to the nearby tube feeder while the other stayed put. The birdsContinue reading “A lesson in allofeeding”

A chipping sparrow enlivens the feeder

Chipping sparrow perched on an iron rail.

This time of year, it’s always a good idea to check the traffic at your bird feeder to see if any newcomers or old friends show up. On Sunday morning, I looked out the back windows at home and spotted a chipping sparrow on the circular perch of our primary feeder. It was the firstContinue reading “A chipping sparrow enlivens the feeder”

A song sparrow gone wrong

Song sparrow on ledge outside a window, with a white candle off to the side on ledge inside the window.

For the last several days, a song sparrow has been pecking at a couple of windows on the back end of our house. While my wife has been bemusedly coping with most of the attacks, I finally got a photo of the offending fellow this morning. If you look at the window in the photoContinue reading “A song sparrow gone wrong”

Backup plan: shooting birds at the home feeder

White-breasted nuthatch sitting on feeder perch.

Today I made two trips to Mercer Meadows, to the Pole Farm at mid-morning and to the Reed-Bryan Farm in late afternoon. The only bird shots I took were of an American kestrel sitting atop a bird box, too far off for a clear photo. When I got home this afternoon, I spotted a chickadeeContinue reading “Backup plan: shooting birds at the home feeder”

A good omen for the Eagles in the Super Bowl

Bald eagle flying above power lines in front of a condominium.

My wife and I were having lunch at the kitchen table when she looked up and saw a bird coming in for a landing on the golf course that adjoins our yard. It was no ordinary bird. On this Super Bowl Sunday, a bald eagle paid us a call, and I consider that a goodContinue reading “A good omen for the Eagles in the Super Bowl”

How to tell downy and hairy woodpeckers apart

A downy woodpecker clings to a tube feeder while a hairy woodpecker hangs from a suet feeder a mere two feet away.

I wrote Sunday about the relatively rare appearance of a hairy woodpecker in our yard. But there’s more to the story! First off, after the male hairy woodpecker appeared in the morning, I looked out the window during lunch to find a female hairy woodpecker on the feeder. That gives me hope that a breedingContinue reading “How to tell downy and hairy woodpeckers apart”