Backyard Explorations (late April)

Jonathan Franzen has said that birds are humans’ constant companion; they are everywhere. Little do we realize they provide a soundtrack to our life. Whether we know it or not, their songs, cries, calls, and activities are constantly with us, especially while outside. When I wake up in the morning, the sound of birds fills the air. At night, the gentle call of owls, which I never see, echo through the otherwise quiet night.

As April wears on, the foliage of the back of our property begins to fill out. During the first year after we first moved into our house, Patricia saw lights in the distance of the beyond the trees and field that adjacent to the train tracks. She looked at the lights and sighed slightly and commented on “the lovely lights of the city.” I gently told her that it was Walmart. We laughed. The lights of the city are one of the private ways we measure the changing of the seasons. Angie looked out the back window and noted that the lights of the city are gradually fading.

Downy Woodpeckers – While walking it is difficult to distinguish between the downy and hairy woodpeckers. Their plumages look remarkably similar; however, the downy are a little smaller, measuring about six inches in length, as opposed to the nine inches of a hairy woodpecker. Harder to see from a distance is that the bill of the downy is shorter and thinner to that of the hairy.

Angie put out the hummingbird feeder to attract scouts that should be arriving in our area soon. We moved the suet feeder, usually stocked with cakes that attract woodpeckers, to the bedroom side of the house. The next day a downy was coming to the sunflower seed feeder to take a single seed and retreat to the tree line. I wanted to explain that the feeder for her and the other woodpeckers had moved about 25 feet away.

I watched a pair of down woodpeckers, a male and a female, seemingly play a game of hide and seek around the truck of a tree in the front yard. As one moved around the trunk, the other kept diametrically opposed, as each gradually got further off the ground. When they reached the branches, first one, then the other, floated back down to the ground to start again. I watched them scale the tree three times before flying off into the backyard.

Nesting robin on Longview Drive

American Robins – They seem to be everywhere during the spring months in Pennsylvania, but they do not go anywhere, American robins are just more noticeable. They are ubiquitous. Every yard seems to have robins searching for food or sparring over territory. Angie likes to say that they are “love drunk.” It may be an apt description. During the spring robins take chances and do foolish things. It is not uncommon to see the bodies of robins who have been hit by cars or met with other disaster. I would say more often than other species that are commonly seen here.

A discarded robin's egg. 

Sometimes I think there are so many that pairs have difficulties finding a place to build a nest. For a couple of years, we had a female trying to build a nest on the topside of the motor housing of our outside ceiling fan on the back porch. Even with wind, the nest was problematic as the motor assembly is rounded. When the wind blows, and the blades of the fan start to turn, what remained of the straw and grass ended up on the porch. On our walks through the neighborhood this spring, Angie spied a robin nesting on a utility box of the side of the house. The nest is strategically located beneath the overhang of the roof, she and her nest are protected north winds as strong showers have meant for a cool, wet and dreary season. I have been checking on her during my daily walks and it appears that the chicks may have hatched by late April since it is the first time that I have not seen her on the nest in more than a week. In the neighborhood, if we look down, hatched light blue eggs can be found everywhere.

Northern Mockingbird

I enjoy watching robins scour yards for food. With their heads cocked at an angle, folklore suggested that the birds were listening for worms. But the head parallel to the ground allows them to see much better.

Northern Mockingbirds – I have come to admire mockingbirds, with their outgoing personality and seeming oblivion to anything else. It is amusing to watch northern mockingbirds struggle with the suet feeders.

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Chickadees – The species, which is prevalent in southern Pennsylvania, is indistinguishable from the black-capped chickadee, except in song. The two birds will mate with one another where their areas overlap.

Brown Thrashers – The males of the species have the largest documented song repertoire in North America with over a thousand songs. They are not frequent visitors to our backyard, but I did manage to catch a glimpse of one, on the ground, near our feeder.

Angie gave me a bee nester for my birthday, which I hung it in the apple tree to see what happens. It is designed for native bee species that are primarily for pollinators rather than generating honey. Regardless of whether bees will find and use it, currently it is aesthetically pleasing.

Late one Sunday morning, a pair of wild turkeys apparently wandered through our backyard. We did not see the pair, but our neighbors (Tom and Kay) direct messaged Angie to alert us. Alas, she did not see the message until the evening. But I find myself taking a peek at the backyard on the off chance that they make another appearance.

White-throated Sparrow

20 species observed: American Crow, American Goldfinch, American Robin, Blue Jay, Brown Thrasher, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Common Grackle, Downy Woodpecker, European Starling, House Finch, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tree Swallow, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, White-throated Sparrow.

Apple blossoms 

A female cardinal in our apple tree

The Moon and Venus in the evening sky