Meet Our New Neighbor

Samedh and I enjoyed watching half a dozen goldfinch pairs zipping around the back yard today during snack time. We also saw a number of starlings and mourning doves snatching up twigs and decorative grass clippings for use in their nests. We've set up a cozy spot in the dining area right in front of our slider door, which we refer to as our "sun room". While it's not an actual sun room, it certainly feels like one when you sit in a comfy chair right up close to the full window. Samedh often sits at his little table during snacks or meals, and can enjoy a full view of the various birds eating from the feeder on our deck as well as in the garden below. It's been a great way to teach him about the different species of birds who visit our yard. Now and then, we'll see a hawk fly through the back yard, or watch beautiful great blue herons fly over head.

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Just when you think you've seen just about every back yard bird there is, someone new shows up. This morning, out of the blue, a brown thrasher landed on our deck for a couple of minutes before disappearing into our garden. It stayed long enough for Samedh and I to get a good glimpse from the kitchen window, where I made a mental note of its size, shape and markings. Samedh's first impression was, "It's a hawk," simply because of its color and size. It was definitely larger than most birds who come to our deck, but it was not a hawk. I went straight for my Birds of North America guide book (an excellent bird identification book by Kenn Kaufman) to make the proper identification of this bird who was "new to us". In my mind I could clearly see the large bird who was reddish brown on top, striped below, and had a long beak and long tail. I quickly found its match in my book, a brown thrasher, who is also pictured above.

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Now we don't have a lot of trees in our back yard, but some of our neighbors do. We've been trying to change that over the years by adding blue spruce trees, arborvitaes, etc. Most of our resident nesters are mourning doves, house finches, goldfinches, robins and sparrows, but I hope that will change as our landscaping matures and offers more cover to other species. Maybe this brown thrasher was just passing through, but it was a real treat for us today. Makes us wonder who will be stopping by next!

She Came Back!

Samedh's dove did come back for dinner last evening, and he was so excited! And first thing this morning, he checked for more doves, and found a young pair munching and crunching on our tray.

Feeding Our Feathered Friends

We had a lot of bird activity out on our deck this morning, and Samedh would point and shout whenever a new bird arrived looking for seeds. He is especially fond of the mourning doves who come for a drink from our heated bird bath. He often looks at the dove and then over to Cosmo, as if to compare the two types of birds.

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With all the feathered visitors coming and going, I decided to put a tray of seeds out for them. There's already plenty of nyjer seed in the finch feeder, but sparrows can't get to it easily. So I got an old party tray out and put together a feast of black oil sunflower seeds, more nyjer seed, and some of Cosmo's discarded seeds (the white millet mix). I set the tray on top of the snow on our deck, and also filled fresh water in the bird bath. Then we waited. And waited. No more visitors. Samedh wasn't too happy, so I tried to explain that the birds were probably perched in the trees taking their naps. They'll be back eventually. At least I hope so. I'll bet that as soon as Samedh wakes from his own nap he'll be right there at the window looking for them.

Finally, some winter birds!

The photos above where taken at my parents' house recently. They get all the good birds, as they have a wooded area behind their house. Juncos, Cardinals, and Woodpeckers of all varieties are some of their frequent visitors. One of my favorite winter birds is the Dark Eyed Junco, pictured here. They've only visited our yard twice since we've lived in Zeeland, and those visits were only at the time of fall migration.

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Our backyard is too wide open to attract a variety of birds during the winter. There's just not enough protective trees, but we are working on that. We've planted arborvitae and blue spruce in the yard, and this seems to offer some cover for the birds (more so when the trees mature). We used to get mourning doves all the time, but this winter is different. Not one bird visited our feeders until today. Maybe it had been too cold...Samedh was so thrilled to see some action at the feeder, and pointed with excitement at the flock of sparrows and house finches munching away at the thistle seed we set out for them.

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So far, Samedh seems to enjoy my love for backyard birds. He truly enjoyed the juncos at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and I can't wait for spring when we can go on "bird walks" so he can learn to identify even more birds.

Waiting for Spring

It's hard to believe that I took this photo nearly one year ago already. Early last March, Pankaj and I visited Yosemite National Park with our friends, Jay and Judy. Being in California, I was anticipating getting great spring time nature photos, full of green meadows dotted with colorful wildflowers along a backdrop of stunning mountains. But being in a higher elevation, Mother Nature had other plans, as it was technically still winter. During our weekend stay at a lodge right outside the park, we encountered a snow storm and temperatures in the 30's. It felt more like Michigan than California, but it was beautiful all the same. The morning after the snow storm, Pankaj and I walked the grounds of the lodge and found dozens of hummingbirds zipping in and out among the flowering shrubs that were covered in snow. It was an amazing sight to see such colorful jewels in such cold and snowy conditions. In Michigan, we don't see our first hummers until May, so this was such a treat for me. This photo is surely my favorite from our trip last year. It reminds me that even when it's cold and blowing snow outside, the beauty of spring and summer is just right around the corner.