At long last

As a bird photographer and bird lover, it is my objective to lure birds to our backyard. Feeders are the obvious choice, but the feed can be pricey. Much more natural, if you disregard the initial price tag, is planting trees and shrubs for birds. For years, I'd been longing to get a serviceberry. Everything about them seems perfect: Their spring blossoms are beautiful, their nectar feeds insects, their fall foliage is attractive, and birds and people savor their berries.
There was one problem, though. We had no space to plant another shrub without removing something else. Last November, we finally had our silver maple removed. Not only did its shallow roots grow too close to our patio, but the tree itself was so vulnerable to storms that we feared it might fall onto our house or car some day. Lesson learned: Don't plant a tree that has shallow roots.
On Saturday, we set out to buy a serviceberry. Luckily, the selection was much better than years ago. The nurseries seem to carry more native plants than they used to and our biggest problem was what size shrub we wanted to buy. The smallest ones were quite inexpensive and would have fit into our car, but they would take years to mature. We settled on a medium sized shrub (about eight feet) that will hopefully bear fruit this year or next year. Will we attract cedar waxwings with this shrub? We shall see.

Spring has sprung

Until yesterday, our backyard was quite uneventful this week - that is, if you don't count hawks. We have had quite a few red-tailed hawk sightings lately. Sometimes they fly right through our yard.
Last evening, we saw our first eastern towhee of the year and I saw it again today. I also noticed that the goldfinches are beginning to molt. Those are two signs that spring is here to stay.

Turkeys Away

My favorite episode on WKRP in Cincinnati was Turkeys Away. The joke is that the station manager drops turkeys out of an airplane thinking that they fly. So, when I first saw a huge bird fly across the street in front of my car, I thought, "It could have been a turkey, but since turkeys don't fly, what could it have been?" I then learned that wild turkeys do indeed fly...
On Monday, I spotted several turkeys in our backyard, scratching at the seeds that dropped from our bird feeders. I knew that they spook easily. I grabbed my camera and stalked down our driveway to the edge of the house, not an easy feat on a gravel driveway. To my surprise, there were over a dozen turkeys in our and the neighbors' yards. I fired off a couple shots before they spotted me and flew away toward the wooded ravine behind our house. All winter long, we did not see a sign of them but now that the days are getting longer they will probably show up more often. Years ago, I even saw a turkey landing on top of our feeder pole. More dangerous was the time when I observed three turkeys crossing the street toward the school that abuts our housing plan. Where they after the food the children dropped on the ground or did they want to attend turkey school?

Mystery Solved

During the past few weeks, I noticed some strange looking birds in our backyard. They didn't quite look like goldfinches, yet they often visited our thistle feeder. They also ate seeds on the ground, but they weren't sparrows either. The other day I received an Audubon Society bulletin and learned that they are pine siskins. I wish I had known this during the backyard bird count so I could have included them. On Saturday, when they were visiting our feeders again I set up my camera and took some photos of them. I was quite excited that I could finally photograph again after a long winter trapped indoors.
At the same time the siskins were at the thistle feeder, a male goldfinch showed up. Its eyes were quite shut from what I assume is conjunctivitis. A bit later, I spotted it on the ground eating seeds. I felt quite sorry for it since it will probably starve to death sooner or later. My husband cleaned out the feeder that same night to avoid spreading the disease to other birds.

Musings

Despite the recent cold spell, spring is around the corner. Really. The birds think so. I hear more and more bird songs around our house and even when I'm driving. Last week, my husband spotted a blue jay that was feeding another one.
The results of the great backyard bird count are in and I can report that we have all 10 of the most frequently reported birds in our yard. I would be happier if I could report a rarer species than, say, a mourning dove, but so it goes.
A bit more unusual are the seagulls we saw at the Pointe recently. There is no body of water nearby and I can only assume that they are raiding the garbage disposals of the restaurants. Go figure!