Come in before light, just when the dawn takes over the night
Dark shadows they flutter cleaning up the spilled seed
And the corn from the feed store as they gobble with greed.
Guess the hawk can't quite see them until it's quite bright
But the lady with seed cups sure puts them to flight.
White-throated Sparrows
American Tree Sparrows
Dark-eyed Juncos, slate-colored subset
Sometimes the lone Song Sparrow that is wintering here.
They scatter when I go out to fill the feeders and as they race for the bushes the chickadees and titmice whirl in unafraid, to grab seeds and hull them before the big guys come back.
Not the best month, January, but there are compensations.
Love your posts and photo's. We have the same wintering birds in South Dakota. And even though they are afraid of us, sometimes I think they wait and watch knowing we equal food!
ReplyDeleteWe have Juncos here. They usually feed early in the morning and late in the evening. The Nuthatches hog the feeder and throw out the seed they don't want, which the Juncos clean up- that is, if the deer leave them any.
ReplyDeleteI always love your writing and your photos!!
ReplyDeleteUK, thanks! I think they do wait for us. In fact I would bet on it. OUr trees are festooned with doves and finches and the like until I fill the feeders. As soon as I am in the house they all float down to snack. The little birds take advantage of my presence and eat while I am there, knowing the bigger ones are more afraid of me. Chickadees practically land on my head. lol
ReplyDeleteShirley, that's handy! lol. I feed cracked corn or chicken scratch from the feed mill to the ground feeders. About one third the price of sunflower seeds here and well-received by sparrows and doves. I put sunflower seeds in the hanging feeders.
LInda, thank you. I love yours as well.
I cannot tell the many variety of Sparrows apart. We seasonally have tons of Junco's. Not the brightest bird. I didn't know they were Sparrow's.
ReplyDeleteChickadee's are so comical, love them!
With our cold weather, our birds are emptying feeders at an accelerated rate.
aurora, it is something I learned fairly recently as well. We usually have a much greater variety of birds at this time of year, but not this year. Going below zero later in the week, so maybe we will see some then.
ReplyDelete