1:00 AM – After the frequent videos of the small gray Finches, here’s a nice contrast: A couple of big colorful birds. Well, the Brown Thrasher is kind of colorful, and no Blue Jays showed up.
While the Finch migrants are around, we’re going to see more of this: A slow infiltration of the platform feeder, and the departure of those big colorful birds. For now, anyway. With all the recent warm weather it seems the winter is quickly coming to an end, and the visitors will go back up north.
1:00 AM – A Dark-eyed Junco and a couple of Finches. The Junco is one of those ‘plain’ birds, like the Brown Thrasher, that I appreciate.
From earlier this winter. It was a little rough on the wildlife, in spite of all the extra high fat – high protein food we put out.
1:00 AM – A Goldfinch, though it’s not the bright yellow we like best. I frequently, in the past, misidentified these as some kind of Warbler, but the black markings on the face confirm that it’s a Goldfinch. (I hope.)
More Finch Sock action. This is from a few days ago, but the visiting birds are still going strong.
Nice quiet video of a male Purple Finch, and occasional companions, feeding on sunflower seeds.
1:00 AM – This Pine Warbler is watching the Finches hog the thistle sock, maybe thinking about joining in.
Another video of high-volume Finch traffic on the platform feeder. Last year they were not here in this number, or for this long.
1:00 AM – The flood of Finches has slowed somewhat, though there are still plenty around. In the slow times between Finch surges the local birds come out for something to eat. In this clip, a sequence of brief appearances by the year-round residents. At the end, of course, another Finch Flood.
We like the Brown Thrashers, especially the yellow eyes.
1:00 AM – Looks like the Finches have gone off somewhere else, maybe back up north, maybe just over to Hoover. One way or another it’s a lot quieter around here. But not near as exciting. We’ll continue with non-Finch videos until, possibly, the Brown Headed Cowbirds come through.
Another Bluebird, this one with a single Finch. The Finch restrains himself from attacking until the Bluebird leaves, then goes for any other Finch that lands. That’s just how it is.
1:00 AM – More squabbling Finches. It goes on all day long.
Just for a change, here’s a slightly older video with no (zero) Finches in it.
1:00 AM – At this point I’m pretty sure these are Finches, at some stage of development where they have vivid stripes and some yellow on the sides and wings. I think so, anyway. Anyway, they’re still here. In this video we see a good old fashioned Finch brawl.
In this one, we see that the recent flood of squabbling birds is taking it’s toll on the resident birds. Here’s a nervous Cardinal intimidated by one Finch. He seems to be eating as fast as possible. In his defense, that’s a mean looking Finch.
1:00 AM – Birds are swarming the Finch Sock, so many that I can’t sort out the different kinds. I think the majority are Finches, but I’m not completely sure. That’s the closest I can see on the ‘bird ID’ website. In this video, all the action is in the background, with a few birds getting a drink in the close ups.
Here’s a male Purple Finch surrounded by female Finches of some kind, either House or Purple. I’ve got to get better at identifying these birds.
1:00 AM – And, we’re back. We should be able to generate some new videos now. We’ll start with this one of a Dark-eyed Junco, placidly sharing the feeder with a finch of some kind. The immature/female Purple Finch and House Finch look pretty much the same to me.
Here’s a short video of the birdbath with the finch sock in the background. The sock has been very busy for a few weeks now. At the end of this clip some Cedar Waxwings show up for water. This is the first we’ve see of the migrators.