Tag Archives: White Throated Sparrows
Friday – 9.22.2017
12:01 AM – We moved the mealworm feeder in front of a camera, so we’re getting videos of all those birds that really like mealworms. In this case, it’s bluebirds, young and adult, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
Sparrows are not as numerous around here, at this time of the year. I’m not sure exactly which kind this is. I’m calling it a White-throated Sparrow, but it could be some variety of Song or House Sparrow.
Tuesday – 1.24.2017
2:40 PM – We saw a Goldfinch at the finch feeder. He spent a pretty good long time eating, so I got some pictures. Unfortunately, they’re really bad. I’ll post them below, anyway. Also managed to take a video, which came out better.
Here’s the Downy Woodpecker. I think. It’s possibly a Hairy Woodpecker, but those are supposed to be bigger with longer beaks. Either way, it’s the first time I’ve seen one. The camera battery died just after I started filming.
5:05 AM – These two videos show White Throated Sparrows (our most numerous visitors recently) squabbling for space at the feeder. In the first one a sparrow appears to ‘sucker punch’ another bird, flying in and pecking his head. After looking at it in slow motion, he’s actually swatting him with his wing. In the second, two of them have a kind of sparrow duel, with beaks, for position in the center of the feeder. This kind of thing goes on all the time, of course. I guess that’s why they call it ‘pecking order’.
Now the same video, slowed down to 40% of real time speed.
The duel:
In this video, you can see Mr. Raccoon in the background leaving the porch and walking along the path. We took the food in again, so there was nothing to attract him.
Finally, here’s the vivid Purple Finch from the still photos below. I haven’t seen him at the deck feeder before. He’s much more colorful than the usual Purple Finch, though unfortunately the camera doesn’t pick that up as much as I’d like.
Monday – 1.23.2017
7:55 AM – Last night we took the deck platform feeder in, to discourage the raccoon from visiting. This morning at 7:29 AM I put it back out. By 7:31 there were half dozen White Throated Sparrows in the feeder, having breakfast. By 7:34 there were at least eight of them. That’s a new record.
Here’s a very interesting video that demonstrates how alert (and quick) the sparrows are. Four of them are sitting in the feeder. Suddenly they all fly away. Within a second a hickory nut falls from the branches above and lands in the feeder. It seems no matter how intently the birds are hogging down, they’re still paying attention to their surroundings. If you’re potential hawk-food, I guess that’s a good idea.
We got a new Arlo camera, this one with sound. It works pretty well so far, though we haven’t captured any dramatic bird calls since we put it out yesterday. We are picking up wind noise, so I’ll have to learn to adjust the sensitivity of the pick-up.
Sunday – 1.22.2017
3:15 PM – The rain filled the deck platform feeder with water. It covered up the small seeds the Sparrows eat, resulting in some disappointed birds:
However, the black oil sunflower seeds preferred by the Cardinals floats. He experienced no interruption in service due to weather.
This Mourning Dove has a big enough beak to get whatever he wants out of the water.
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10:25 AM – Plenty of White Throated Sparrows this morning. They moved on and some Purple Finches took over. It’s interesting to watch the interaction between the male and female Finches. The male drives off one female, but allows another to stay in the feeder. His mate?
In the following clip, immediately afterwards, the male and female couple are sharing the feeder. When another female approaches, the male again drives her off.
In subsequent clips, the female finch drives off other females. I conclude that the male and female Finches are a couple, and have higher status than the ‘single’ females that approach the feeder. Or maybe not. One thing is clear, Mr. and Mrs. Purple Finch don’t like to share.
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12:50 AM – The cat that visits periodically came around a while ago, looking for nuts. We took in the deck platform feeder so as not to attract ‘Rocky’ Raccoon, so he had no luck. I’d put out food for the animal but I don’t want him there all the time, and don’t want all the other cats, raccons and possums that would follow him.
Friday – 1.20.2017
2:00 PM – The new feeder/birdbath arrangement is up. The food is now in the larger pan, closer to the water. It can accommodate at least seven White Throated Sparrows at one time. See video below:
8:00 AM – The rain last night filled the birdbath we’ve been using as a platform feeder, covering up the seeds. Here’s a Tufted Titmouse at dawn, expecting a morning snack and finding…nothing.
7:05 AM – A few weeks back I saw a male Cardinal that had be mauled by something – maybe a hawk or cat. There was an ugly gash between neck and wing. I think I saw him again, and the wound had healed. This video shows the before and after:
In this video we get a brief view of a squirrel with a bite taken out of it’s ear. It’s not the same one-eared squirrel I saw a few days ago. Evidently this kind of injury is common due to fights over territory, or dominance. It’s no picnic being a wild animal.
Thursday – 1.19.2017
10:30 AM – D filled the platform feeder again. Minutes later the place was overrun with hungry birds. Here are female House Finches (the ones with striped breasts) and White Throated Sparrows sharing. I think those sparrows are the White Throated variety, but they don’t exactly look like the pictures on the Cornell Lab bird ID site.
A few minutes later, while the sparrows are still feeding, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker flies in. When he tries to step into the feeder, he slides down to the bottom. The feeder is really a birdbath, and not well suited for feeding, but for now it will have to do.
8:10 AM – D took down the platform feeder (previously bird bath) because the seeds were soaked through from the rain. She’s going to replace it with fresh food, but before she could, the birds discovered that their favorite feeder was gone. Here’s the Carolina Wren scavenging in the upside down feeder, then giving up:
And here’s a bewildered Tufted Titmouse. He tries a peanut, but that’s not good. One last look at the camera, and he’s gone:
5:20 AM – These White Throated Sparrows are always around the feeders, but I don’t post videos of them very often. The ‘color’ birds (Jays and Cards) get all the press. But I like the markings on these little Sparrows. Here’s a couple feeding, before getting run off by Mr. Cardinal (naturally).
Monday – 1.16.2017
9:50 AM – The chopped nuts D puts out are certainly the most popular item, at least with some species. Here’s a one clip (of many) of a Blue Jay wolfing down one.
Mr. Cardinal clears the feeder of White Throated Sparrows. He seems to prefer the Black Oil Sunflower seeds to the chopped nuts.
I’m not sure what species is most numerous in the yard, but it’s probably between the Finches and the Sparrows. Here’s some White Throated Sparrows hogging the feeder:
The camera only caught the head of a woodpecker – probably a Red-Bellied Woodpecker – but you can see a good shot of the very impressive beak. He looks like he could give you a good stabbing.
Saturday – 1.14.2017
9:00 AM – Small crowd of White Throated Sparrows gorge on seeds while ignoring the fresh orange specially procured and prepared for them by D. Birds are ingrates.
4:30 AM – The peanuts D puts out for the birds are very popular. Squirrels like them too, of course. Here’s a Blue jay and a Red-Bellied Woodpecker have a sample. The woodpecker is only on the video for a few seconds at the start, he grabs and flies away.
We read that some birds like fruit, so we put a couple of orange halves out for them. One we put on the spike we used for the squirrels corn cob – which turned out to be uninteresting to them. The other we put in the new deck platform feeder. So far, no takers. Here’s a Carolina Wren taking a look at it.
Wednesday – 1.11.2017
1:00 AM – Since the new platform feeder went up there’s a lot of activity on the deck. Here are some videos of typical bird action. The squirrels haven’t visited the new feeder yet. That will be interesting to watch.
Lots of Purple Finches, and one White Throated Sparrow:
Cardinal and Finch – the Finch isn’t intimidated by the bigger bird:
Pigeon (Mourning Dove) swilling non-stop:
Purple Finch runs off the other birds: