Winter Buffet

During the winter, birds struggle to find food, shelter and water. You can help by planting a variety of plants, shrubs, vines, grasses and trees that provide berries, seeds and nuts for them throughout the winter. These plants provide not only food rich in calories, nutrients and antioxidants for the birds, but also, beauty, texture and interest for you, as well.

Here are some to consider:

Shrubs:

1. Viburnums such as Cranberry Viburnum (Viburnum trilobum)

2. Staghorn sumac (Rhea typhina)

3. Northern Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)

4. Native roses

5. Winterberry (Ilex verticilatta)

Vines:

1. Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)

Trees:

1. Oaks (Quercus)

2. Walnut (Juglans)

3. Hickory (Carya)

4. Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

5. Spruces (Picea)

6. Juniper (Juniperus)

7. Dogwood (Cornus)

8. Holly (Ilex)

9. Hawthorn (Crataegus)

The Green Hawthorn, Winter King,  is a beautiful, pyramid shaped, small tree with small thorns, which has beautiful white flowers in the spring, brilliant red purplish leaves in the autumn and scarlet berries in the winter. 

I have a Green Hawthorn right outside my window, which makes for easy viewing and photographing. In the course of just a couple of hours, I captured 6 different bird species feeding. 

In order for the berries to become soft and edible, they need to go through a few freeze-thaw cycles. 

Here is a robin gobbling down a berry:

A female northern cardinal is finding an abundance of berries on the ground: 

A dark-eyed junco rests and takes shelter after a satisfying meal:

 This cedar waxwing flew in briefly. I hope he tells his friends.

On a neighboring pear tree, a red-bellied woodpecker peeks at all the activity:

The resident blue birds are seen daily on this tree,

including these 2 juvenile blue birds, who stopped by to check out all the commotion:

Another blue bird dives in to partake:

A large flock of robins have lingered for over a week, enjoying the feast daily:

To check which plants are best suited for your area, this website can provide the answers
you need, organized by plant or by state:
http://plants.usda.gov/checklist.html. 

Pileated Woodpecker's Short Visit!

On January 21, loud drumming and calls from the woods, attracted my attention. It was a sound I was familiar with, but I had not heard since my childhood.

Could it be a Pileated Woodpecker?

I dashed outside to get a closer look. There it was, hopping and flying from tree to tree enthusiastically with it's bright red crest. What a wonderful surprise, as I have never seen one in this area.

Later in the afternoon, it flew overhead, going East, to another part of the neighborhood. 

Unfortunately, I haven't seen or heard it again. 

Our Observations and Results for the Great Backyard Bird Count!

For the past 2 days, John and I have been observing birds and taking notes for the Great Backyard Count. We revisited a few pointers for identification such as with the woodpeckers, the Downy Woodpecker has a short beak, white back and black dots on the white outer section of the tail whereas the Hairy Woodpecker, which looks very similar, is bigger and has a longer beak. Can you figure out which one is which from these amazing illustrations from online?

Then, for the iridescent black birds. The European Starlings are smaller and compact with short tails and yellow beaks this time of year and usually fly in quick moving flocks whereas the Common Grackle is larger with a long keel-shaped tail and dark beak. Which one is which?

Finally, here are the results of our Great Backyard Bird Count:

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Locality: 18901, Doylestown, Bucks County, PA
Observation Date: FEB 19, 2012	Email: shiverjh2002@yahoo.com
Start Time: 9:30 AM	Snow Depth: No snow was present
Total Birding Time: 4 hours	Location Type: Yard
Party Size: 2 Skill: good Weather: good	Habitat(s): deciduous woods rural
Number of species: 14	All Reported: no
Species Count Turkey Vulture 3 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Mourning Dove 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 3 American Crow 3 Carolina/Black-capped Chickadee 2 European Starling 12 Song Sparrow 3 Dark-eyed Junco 13 Northern Cardinal 3 Common Grackle 3 House Finch 1
There is still one more day to observe. Wow, I see a Northern Flicker on the feeder. Got to go!