Harris’s sparrow stopping by the yard for a few days, on its way up north.

Harris’s sparrows have a cool song that can easily be reproduced by whistling, so it was fun singing back and forth with this one. There might have been two of them, because I thought I heard the reply coming from different directions. It’s a little like a white-throated song, but clearer and with more notes.

Lincoln’s sparrow

These sparrows are just passing through, probably only here for a few days, and I’ve been scattering seed on the ground for them. The Harris’s sparrow breeds in the Canadian arctic and winters in the south central U.S, while Lincoln’s sparrow is more widespread, breeding in Canada and Alaska. White-throated sparrows nest in Minnesota but we are just south of that range. Their song reminds of me of camping in the Boundary Waters, where they are quite numerous and talkative.

A rose-breasted grosbeak warily keeping an eye on the camera.

Besides sparrows, there have been at least four Baltimore orioles enjoying the oranges I’ve been putting out for them, and a couple of rose-breasted grosbeaks visiting the feeders. I’ve got the hummingbird feeder up too. It seems that spring has finally arrived!

Yellow-rumped warbler in the brush pile near the feeders.

A few weeks ago we were hosting fox sparrows, who finally moved on after about two weeks of being very well taken care of in our yard. It seemed that the weather would improve, and it did briefly, only to get cold again. Some areas of the metro got quite a bit of snow, and we were right back to highs in the 30′s with snow/rain. For the last few days, we’ve had increasing numbers of yellow-rumped warblers. They get their name from the bright patch of yellow the males have on the rump (females have the same markings, but duller.) Since it’s such a distinguishing feature, they have also earned the nickname “butter butt.”

Yellow-rumped warbler on the caged suet feeder.

It’s one of the first warblers we usually see during migration, coming from the southern US and Mexico, on their way to nesting grounds in Canada and the arctic.

Yellow-rumped warbler with a dried mealworm. These birds are very well fed.

Yellow-rumped warblers are normally not feeder birds, but are one of the few warblers I know of that will come to feeders if they are hungry enough. There have been many reports of them all around the city, at suet feeders and in large groups foraging along neighborhood streets. It seems they are everywhere, delayed in their migration because of the cold last week.

Yellow-rumped warbler under the feeders.

They are mainly insectivores, but will eat fruit in the winter. Since there haven’t been many bugs around recently, they are having a hard time finding food. Usually they are seen higher up in the trees hawking insects (flying out from a perch to grab an insect in flight.) However when there are no insects, they are forced to forage on the ground. I scattered suet pellets and dried mealworms on the ground for them, and had a flock of probably 2 dozen gobbling it all up. Like most warblers, they move around constantly and quickly so it’s hard to get an accurate count!

This chickadee isn’t happy about sharing mealworms with invading butter butts.

Yellow-rumped warblers are everywhere in the yard, this one is in the garden.

So for the last few days, they have been pretty much everywhere in the yard – on the feeder, under the feeders, on the deck and in trees, in the garden and in grassy areas where I had scattered food for them. They seem to really like the suet and have no problem getting inside the caged feeder. I even had one coming to the mealworm dish for live mealworms that I had put out for the chickadees!

Ok, this is getting a little ridiculous …

I’m sure they will move on soon, but it’s been fun hosting them and watching their antics. These warblers are fairly tame and are usually easy to watch up close by just sitting quietly. With all the difficulties that we humans create for birds, sometimes it’s nice to just give them a helping hand in a time of need. We’ll see them again in the fall, migrating on the way back south. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative.

American robin

Hermit thrush

Eastern bluebird

I took the opportunity to get some photos in the nice morning light. Unfortunately someone in the neighborhood must have thought the sight of a car parked along the road with a big camera lens aimed out the driver side window was very suspicious, because eventually the cops showed up and wanted to check my ID!

The winter that never ends.

Over the weekend I saw a nice looking Cooper’s hawk perch up in the oak tree just to the left of the feeders. This morning I still had at least 15 fox sparrows and plenty of juncos, they must know about the impending winter storm.

Several fox sparrows on the ground behind the feeder.

View of the backyard during the snow storm

This morning during the snow storm, we had quite the feeding frenzy of sparrows! Many more juncos than I’ve seen all winter, plus a couple song sparrows, several tree sparrows, and more fox sparrows than I’ve ever seen (at least 8, probably closer to 12.) There were many scratching around the ground below the feeders, but also several back in the spruce trees and others in the garden going after seeds. If you look closely at the photo, you can see several birds on the ground.

American tree sparrows in the garden

Fox sparrow

Song sparrow on the bird bath

Dark-eyed junco

Yellow-bellied sapsucker in the backyard

Winter has been fairly uneventful in the yard. No unusual sightings. We have had some signs of spring here on Overlook Circle, including a couple of yellow-bellied sapsuckers in the maple trees and the return of chipping sparrows. Goldfinches are starting to turn bright yellow. Red-winged blackbirds are back, so I had to hang the suet log horizontally to prevent them from eating up all my suet!

Speaking of suet, I discovered I could save a lot of money by purchasing year’s worth from an online supplier. The suet I use is called Attractor and it’s made here in Minnesota. Woodpeckers LOVE it! I used to buy it locally but it’s fairly expensive so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get it at almost 50% savings (I do still buy most of my bird supplies locally.) I can go through a case in one month because I have so many woodpeckers, so I bought 12 cases from Woodpecker-Feeder.com and got free shipping buy buying in quantity. And now I have plenty on hand to keep the woodpeckers happy.

There are also some winter residents still hanging around, especially with this impending winter storm … many juncos and also some pine siskins and redpolls. Yesterday, in anticipation of bluebirds arriving, I installed some Gilbertson nest boxes to replace the Peterson nest boxes. I’m interested to see how the Gilbertson style works compared to Peterson. Still anxiously looking for bluebirds!

Winter Storm Warning April 10 2013

We are under a Winter Storm Warning so the feeders are quite busy, the birds know it’s coming! We need the moisture and I’m hoping the garden will do much better this year. Even native plants were stressed by last year’s drought. It seems that spring will never arrive …

I think if I had it to do over again, I might go with an Axis camera, since they offer several models with h.264 support out of the box, and other features I like. But, I’m happy with the quality of the StarDot NetCam I have, and considering the investment I’ve made in it at this point, I’m sure I’ll have it running for several years!

First attempt at infrared illumination.

I hooked up the infrared illuminator today for a trial run. I suspected that it would be too much light for the distance I have between the camera and the feeders, but I thought I’d go ahead and try it. I purchased this 130 LED illuminator because it’s rated to to an operating temperature of -22F. Most of the less expensive illuminators didn’t rate below zero or only to -4F. Also this one has a weatherproof rating of IP66 which means it should be fine in any weather.

Infrared illuminator on top of feeder cam.

All I did was bungee it to the top of the camera housing. The good news is that it works – the camera switched over to I/R, and there is plenty of illumination. However, the image is extremely blurry. I’m assuming right now that’s because it’s too close, so I’ll try and relocate it in the next day or two and see if that improves things. Hopefully I can find something else to bungee it to (at least for temporary testing!) When I have it working correctly, I’ll start uploading images 24/7.

I always say I only keep one list, which is my yard bird list, but I realized that have an unofficial wish list for yard birds. Last year I had Harris’ sparrow on my wish list, and the year before, white-crowned sparrow. There are only so many possible birds that could visit, based on habitat and location, but here are a few that I think might be possible, even if some are a stretch. Check out the MOU Species Occurrence Maps to see what species have been reported in the state, and what season.

• Hermit thrush – we’re in the right habitat for them, so it’s probably the most realistic bird on this list. UPDATE: seen on 4/19/2013, woohoo!
• Orchard oriole – they’re in the area, I’ve got Baltimore orioles so no reason I shouldn’t be able to get one of these
• Carolina wren – not common here, but there are occasional reports in the area.
• Tufted titmouse – we are just north of their normal range, so it’s not likely but you never know. They probably don’t read the bird books so maybe one will decide to show up in my yard. The photo on this page is one I saw in Wisconsin.
• Eastern towee – they are not listed as common for this area but it’s very possible that we could see one here.
• Screech owl – I’ve never seen or heard one around the area, but I don’t see why not. And I have an Owl Shack ready just in case!
• Saw-whet owl – a few years ago there was one just a couple miles away, and I think we have good habitat. They are just hard to find. I think the chickadees will let me know.
• Merlin – they are seen at the MN Valley refuge which is just down the hill. I know they like to nest in tall pine trees which we have plenty of. Although, if they nested here, all my other birds might leave. And my neighbors would hate me because these birds are loud and aggressive. So I should be careful what I wish for.
• Yellow warbler – I’ve seen many other warblers in the yard during migration, just not this particular one. UPDATE: seen on 5/19/2013
• Pine grosbeak – theoretically possible, according to Cornell I’m within their range.
• Red-shouldered hawk – they are around the Twin Cities, I’ve seen them in Mendota Heights and we also sometimes have them at the Raptor Center.

Maybe 2013 will bring some of these to my yard, or maybe something entirely unexpected!