A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 2 life birds!

yesterday my son and i were sitting out on the picnic table enjoying the warm weather. he was making "mud soup" and i was watching the birds. i saw a Hairy Woodpecker and a White Throated Sparrow. i thought it was just a chipping sparrow or a finch till i saw him through my binoculars and saw the bright yellow patch by his eyes! he was so pretty! just thought i'd share with you all!

That's so exciting for you!

yay!

The white throats were singing away in the shrubs acoss the street monday (?tuesday?). I kept saying come over here I havent seen you yet. BF thought I'd lost my mind talking to a bush. Then when the sparrow came over, he saw why I wanted the bird to come over. Pretty arent they?. I love the chippys too.

Do you have the hairy and the downy? I have downys at my suet now. My last house i had both, they'd wait their turn until their 'cousin' moved away.

yeah- i see downys all the time. that's how i noticed the hairy was different- he just seemed bigger on the suet feeder. then i got out my binoculars to get a close up and saw his bill was different and everything! it's exciting to see everyone coming back! I just love spring!

I had a male Downy on my suet feeder yesterday and this morning. I have had a mated pair of Downys in my yard for about 3 years now. I've never had a Hairy in my yard, YET, but have seen them a mile north of my house. Woodpeckers are my specialty group of birds. All birders love ALL birds but each birder has a specialty group or groups of birds that they spend much of their time studying. Woodpeckers and to a lesser extent, bluebirds are my specialty groups that I study.

i suppose i haven't found my "group" yet. i like the littler birds right now. the tufed titmouse i think is almost my favorite right now. not sure why- he's just so darn cute. but thought you'd be interested (since you love woodpeckers) that we've seen a northern flicker! saw him last year twice and once this year already! they are gorgeous! do you have them down your way?

Yes we do have Northern Flickers. We also have Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers (in Winter), and VERY uncommon, almost rare, the Red-Headed Woodpecker. I have seen only TWO Red-Headed Woodpeckers in my life, a mated pair on a tree 10 feet above my head, and that was 15 years ago. My wife saw ONE 10 years ago. I f you like the little birds then you would like Warblers. Most birders like the little birds best and Warblers and Vireos are the birds we look for. At this exact moment over 40 species of Warblers are migrating northward from Central and South America. They like mature forest with lower level brush. State natural areas with lots of water and forests are the place to look for them. GO NOW!!!

Mr downy was on my suet last night. He's so cute!
Did you kow... flickers are the only woodpecker that commonly forage on the ground for food, they love ants.

Thornius, I live in a forest preserve next to a trout stream.
I had a pair of warblers but I dont know if they wer pine or yellow. Hard for me to see the difference. Maybe they'll come back.

I've always called Northern Flickers, "Groundpeckers" Yellow Warblers and Pine Warblers are two of the few Warblers that I cannot be certain I've seen yet. I think I have seen the Yellow, but it was a RAINY day and my binoculars were quite foggy so I can't be certain, but am fairly sure that is what I saw. Another couple that are confused with the Yellow and Pine are the Blue-Winged Warbler, and the Prothonotary Warbler, two of my favorites. The Blue-Winged warbler has a REALLY neat song that sounds like, "BEE-buzz". Blue-Winged Warblers are arriving in Nashville, TN, right now (as are the others)