Whats at your feeder?? Do not despair! you are probably doing everything right.

Where ever I travel in the community people are asking me where all the birds are. People  are  feeling frustrated about the lack of birds at their feeders. As I travel to and from the marsh I have seen feeders that are full that have very few birds visiting this bounty that is put out with such expectation.  Birders in the area have been able to  discover 43 different species  as reported on EBIRD which is a growing tool of citizen science that is helping local birders record what species have been seen in our area.

Erin O'rielly and Ron Judd with a redpoll and bluejay this blue jay was origainally banded  last fall

 Despite these birds being seen they are not really showing up at many feeders  but if you are lucky you have a few birds that have found your feeder.  The difference between my home feeders and the marsh feeders is quite dramatic  which may account for why I have been spending so much time at the marsh. At home most of the activity at the feeder has been the joy of seeing chickadees however a goldfinch showed up just the other day.

a lone goldfinch visiting our New Liskeard feeder

Despite  not having many birds  there are always those moments  that capture our hearts. The other day I had a red bellied woodpecker that showed up and if

so lucky to have a red bellied woodpecker  at our feeder this one seems to enjoy corn  as well as suet

that was not exciting enough a piliated  showed up on the same tree I have included  a photo which will be a challenge to find both species  but give it a try.

Look way up and see the red bellied on the same tree at the same time as a piliated woodpecker

     The main reason we are not seeing many birds is that there is either still plenty of seed in the north so dependable species we see in the winter like common redpolls and pine grosbeaks have not arrived  or they went further south in search of food. At the marsh we usually have banded over 300 common redpolls by now  and this year we have only banded 72  so far.  The flock we have  based on the number of retraps we are getting  gives me the feeling we only have one small flock that has found the marsh feeders.

Ron judd and visitor kim Adair  with a couple of redpolls

 I celebrate our luck as there are not many people that have redpolls this winter, There is a fellow named Ron Pittaway who gathers information on seed crops on trees and berry producing shrubs and trees to predict what our bird numbers will be every winter and he is usually very accurate based on understanding what food is available in the north. He predicted that we would have very few winter finches so i guess the message for feeder watchers is do not get discouraged  it is just one of those winters  that it is hard to find birds. Even snow buntings a usually dependable bird seem to be in low numbers. So save the money that you would be spending on seed and bank it for another season. Spring is close and i am already looking forward to the migration

The beak of a northern shrike definitely means business

   

Just as numbers at the marsh feeders started to grow this northern shrike showed up which has been keeping birds on the alert as many of you may know shrikes eat smaller song birds although  people have witnessed shrikes taking birds as big as pine grosbeaks . Local Englehart birder Vic Roach told me that he has 2 shrikes at his place  which is double jeopardy for birds at his feeder.

Ethan Quinton banded his first northern shrike an opportunity that not many people get

Snowy owl on the move  even though it is a blur I liked this photo