Backyard Birds in Winter

Last Thursday we enjoyed a wonderful study of chickadees and other backyard birds. However, I got a little side-tracked and never shared because of the incident with the wiffle ball. I love the variety of birds we see at our feeder each season. The woodpeckers stop by more frequently to eat the suet we share in winter. Or at least we notice them more.

Earlier in the day, I had enjoyed the section in The Handbook of Nature Study on chickadees, all by myself. I especially liked this illustration because it shows just how well chickadees can grasp anything and perch any which a way (like in the photo at top). Plus the illustration puts their sweet little call to note.

After lunch we pulled out the Backyard BirdSong Guide and listened to the chickadee’s call.

Having completed a chickadee chalk pastel another time, we enjoyed the chickadee coloring pages provided in the More Nature Study with Outdoor Hour Challenges Winter Book 2.

We also enjoyed a beautiful new app, from BirdCage Press and Cornell University, called My Bird World.

(while watching the feeder, the children noticed a squirrel was burying an acorn. It was fun to watch)

Right after lunch is the perfect time to watch our feeder. Because it’s the birds’ lunch time too. Here are some of the birds we saw in a 20 minute span of watching through the window:

White-breasted nuthatch (with a chickadee)

red-bellied woodpecker with a yellow warbler (we saw one of these but the photo was taken another day – notice the difference in the amount of suet).

brown-headed nuthatch

and a downy woodpecker (take on same day as the red-bellied woodpecker)

Now a post on bird watching would not be complete without a mention of my Aunt Mary Ann. She recently had an overwintering hummingbird visit her feeder. The feeder she keeps on a little heater to make sure the nectar doesn’t freeze. Hummingbird sightings are not common in our area in winter.

When the hummingbird was back, Aunt Mary Ann alerted the local bander, who rushed out. But the little hummer never came back that morning. My aunt and uncle also recently went to the Georgia Coast on a birding trip. If you love birds as much as we do, you might enjoy her Flickr set.

Beautiful backyard birds! Always much to learn.