Gardening: Bring in the birds this winter

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Photo credit – Gardener’s Supply Company

Photo credit – Gardener’s Supply Company

By Melinda Myers

Brighten your winter days by inviting birds into your landscape. Their beauty and motion help enliven the garden and lighten your spirit. Not only do they provide entertainment, but also an opportunity for all ages to stay involved with nature year-round.

Increase the number of visitors to your yard by including all the essentials these winged visitors need; food, shelter and water.

Plants are the easiest way to bring birds into your landscape. These natural feeders provide seasonal food and shelter for the birds. Take a walk through your yard and look for trees, shrubs and perennials that provide food and evergreens that provide year-round shelter.  Plan on adding a few of their favorites that provide food and shelter and seasonal beauty you can enjoy. Continue reading →

Latest For the Birds column: Another Christmas Bird Count in the books

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Photo by Chris Bosak A large flock of Brant at Calf Pasture Beach, April 2015.

Photo by Chris Bosak
Brant were once again numerous at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, Conn., during the 2016 Christmas Bird Count.

Here’s the latest For the Birds column, which runs weekly in The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.), The Keene (NH) Sentinel and several Connecticut weekly newspapers.

…

Buffleheads were everywhere. Not in great numbers, particularly, but they were everywhere we looked.

Norwalk Harbor, Norwalk River, Long Island Sound off Calf Pasture and Cedar Point Yacht Club, the small pond at Taylor Farm … it seemed the bufflehead was the duck of the day for the most recent Christmas Bird Count. As I have for the past 16 years or so, I participated in the Westport Circle count and covered East Norwalk with Frank Mantlik.

The Christmas Bird Count is the world’s largest citizen science program, with data going back to 1900. The data helps scientists track bird populations and is valuable in determining what steps, if any, need to be taken to help certain species.

Frank and I found a total of 53 species, which is about typical for us. The weather was wet and gray, so that may account for the slightly lower total. I can’t complain, though; Continue reading →

Merry Christmas from BirdsofNewEngland.com

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Red-tailed Hawk perches in an evergreen in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Red-tailed Hawk perches in an evergreen in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

I know it’s not your traditional Christmas greeting photo with a Northern Cardinal sitting on an evergreen bough as snow covers the background. But whoever said I follow the rules all the time?

I got these photos the other day while driving through Brookfield, Conn., as the sun was rising for the day. The scene was awash in the golden light of the dawn and the Red-tailed Hawk stood out clear as day on the dark green evergreen.

Merry Christmas and happy holiday to those who view and enjoy http://www.BirdsofNewEngland.com. Thanks for your support!

Photo by Chris Bosak A Red-tailed Hawk perches in an evergreen in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Red-tailed Hawk perches in an evergreen in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

The fox and the mouse (guess who wins)

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Red Fox finds a mouse on a driveway in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Red Fox finds a mouse on a driveway in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Red Fox eats a mouse on a driveway in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Red Fox eats a mouse on a driveway in Brookfield, Conn., winter 2016.

I was driving around this morning looking for a photo to take for work. When I found the perfect subject – just a sign in a yard to illustrate a story I’m working on – a Red Fox scampered through the scene and crossed right in front of the sign I was photographing anyway.

As the fox continued across the property it paused on the driveway to eat a mouse. I’m not sure if the fox caught the mouse right then and there, or if the mouse was already dead on the driveway and therefore an easy meal. My guess is that the mouse was already dead, perhaps getting run over by the property owner earlier that morning.

At any rate, the fox paused just long enough to pick up the mouse with its jaws, take three or four bites to position the mouse just right and gulped it down.

That is usually the type of thing I see when I don’t have my camera handy. I was lucky this time.

Don’t worry, I’ll have a more pleasant post for Christmas!

Red-breasted Nuthatch poses for close-up

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Red-breasted Nuthatch grabs a sunflower seed from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., in Dec. 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Red-breasted Nuthatch grabs a sunflower seed from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., in Dec. 2016.

It’s been a good year for Red-breasted Nuthatches in southern New England. Here’s another one that visited my feeder this winter (even though winter hasn’t officially started yet.)

Living in the woods

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It’s been about a year and a half since I bought a house in the woods. It’s not exactly isolated like Thoreau’s cabin on Walden Pond, but it is in the woods nonetheless. Every once in a while a scene catches my eye and I need to grab a photo of it, even with my iPhone.

If it doesn’t include a bird in the photo, I typically do not post it to this site. With this photo I will start posting them more often. Otherwise the photos never see the light of day. The woods are just too cool not to share.

Below is the color version. Which one do you like better?

ax-snow

 

This one’s for Lorna: Blue Jay at feeder

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay grabs a peanut from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., Dec. 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay grabs a peanut from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., Dec. 2016.

This post is for my friend Lorna, a tough young bird. The Hour family is thinking of you.

The feeder is an Enchanted Bird Venetian Bronze feeder by Good Directions. More importantly for this post, though, it was a gift from Lorna when I bought my house in Danbury last year. Well, it works Lorna, as you can see from these photos. More photos to come in the following days, too.

Thanks again, Lorna, and be well!

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay grabs a peanut from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., Dec. 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay grabs a peanut from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., Dec. 2016.

Latest For the Birds column: Evening Grosbeak kind of winter

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Evening Grosbeaks visit a feeder near Jaffrey in this photo taken by For the Birds reader Pam Hoyt.

Evening Grosbeaks visit a feeder near Jaffrey in this photo taken by For the Birds reader Pam Hoyt.

Here’s the latest For the Birds column, which runs weekly in The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.), The Keene (NH) Sentinel and several Connecticut weekly newspapers.

………

The sightings of Evening Grosbeaks keep pouring in.
I mentioned these handsome finches in my last column, but now that I keep hearing from readers who see them, their story bears elaboration.
First, let me mention a few of the sightings that came in this week. Pam, who lives near Jaffrey, had a flock of Evening Grosbeaks visiting her feeder for three days in a row.
“We almost never see them here so I was surprised,” she wrote.
Pam also attached a great photo of her visitors.
I particularly appreciated getting the photo as I could use it to accompany this column. I don’t have any photos of Evening Grosbeaks because I rarely see them as well. I take that back, I do have one photo that I took in Pittsburgh, N.H., about 20 years ago. It was a one-legged male Evening Grosbeak and it was finding seeds along one of the many logging roads in the northern tip of the state. It appeared otherwise healthy so the loss of a leg didn’t seem to be holding this bird back.
I was brand new to photography so the photos I did take Continue reading →

Latest For the Birds column: Notes from New England readers

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Photo by Chris Bosak American Robin in Selleck's Woods in fall 2013.

Photo by Chris Bosak
American Robin in Selleck’s Woods in fall 2013.

 

Here’s the latest For the Birds column, which runs weekly in The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.), The Keene (NH) Sentinel and several Connecticut weekly newspapers.

………………

Catching up on some news from For the Birds readers.

Carol wrote in to share a story about a backyard spectacle she witnessed at her new home.

Her new place overlooks a pond surrounded by trees and from her living room window she peers down on two dogwood trees and an adjacent white pine. In early fall, the dogwoods were “both laden with berries,” she wrote.

One day she noticed movement between the pine and dogwoods and inspected the situation. She saw close to a dozen American Robins moving from tree to Continue reading →

Titmouse grabs a peanut

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Tufted Titmouse tries to figure out how to pick up a peanut off a deck railing in Danbury, Conn., in the fall of 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Tufted Titmouse tries to figure out how to pick up a peanut off a deck railing in Danbury, Conn., in the fall of 2016.

I am entertained by birds doing just about anything, but one of my favorite sights in the backyard is watching birds grab peanuts and fly off to store or eat them. I put a handful or two of peanuts on a platform feeder or on the deck railing itself and wait for the birds to discover them.

If the Blue Jays arrive first, forget it, the peanuts will be gone in a matter of minutes. Same goes for the Red-bellied Woodpecker. One or two of them empty the feeder in minutes, too.

I like when smaller birds, such as the Tufted Titmouse above, go after the peanuts. Their bills aren’t large enough to simply fly in, grab the nut and take off. They need to pick the right peanut and position it just right to grab it.

If you’ve never tried offering peanuts in the shell to birds, give it a shot. It has great entertainment value.