Alison

I saw a hairy woodpecker at my feeder today, and it actually seemed to be eating seeds from it- I’d thought they didn’t come to feeders for some reason. It was pecking the nearby tree trunk and eating from the feeder alternately. The other birds, Juncos and Pine Siskin, were cautious of the much bigger woodpecker, and avoided the feeder when it was nearby.

Beautiful! Lucky sighting!

Two birds I can identify by shape now are the Hermit Thrush and the White-breasted Nuthatch. The Hermit Thrush is a frequent visitor to my birdbath, and it’s between a sparrow and Robin in size, with a round body, short neck and small head. It holds its wings in a distinctive way, so that the wing tips protrude diagonally downward below the line of the belly. It’s legs are also longer and more noticeable than a “typical” perching bird, like two thin toothpicks below its round body. Another bird that’s really easy to recognize by shape/behavior is the White-breasted nuthatch, because it tends to perch on tree trunks with its body facing down and its head and long thin beak looking out at an angle from the tree. It has a small, teardrop shaped body with a short tale and not much of a neck. You can see this distinctive profile sticking out on the side of a tree even at a distance.

He’s adorable! It looks like he’s looking right at the metal bird decoration.

Like many people I’ve gotten into birding since being home all the time during Covid, and starting to notice the natural world in my backyard. I have hung up bird feeders and am identifying birds I’ve never seen before because I never stopped and really looked at them. One of my favorites is the White-Breasted Nuthatch because it’s so lively and dances around on the tree trunks like a little sprite. I have a wonderful Hairy Woodpecker who has discovered my suet feeder, as well as some Ladder Backed Woodpeckers and a female Williamson’s Sapsucker who seems to live on one particular tree in my yard. The Sandhill Cranes picture is from a recent visit to Bosque Del Apache, which is basically bird heaven here in beautiful New Mexico. These birds have given me so much joy in these difficult times.