We have had some changes in the birds that frequent our feeders and our neighborhood. Here are a few of my observations and thoughts.
1. We are seeing more ravens than crows these days. It isn’t unusual to see three ravens flying over the yard, landing in our tall evergreens right at the top. They sit there and make their CRONK, CRONK sound and then a gurgling. They are so much larger than the crows we have had in the past. I’m not sure what the reason is for the change but it will be interesting to see the numbers during the Great Backyard Bird Count. If you would like to do a really easy study and comparison of the raven and the crow, I highly recommend this page on All About Birds: Crows vs. Ravens.
2. We haven’t had any house sparrows in our feeders since last spring. Where did they go? We still have white-crowned sparrows and fox sparrows but the distinctive sweet song of the house sparrow is absent. Should I be sad at their disappearance? Is it only a temporary thing, perhaps having some connection to the drought we are experiencing? Only time will tell.
Great Backyard Bird Count 2015
I invite you to mark February 13-16, 2015 on your calendar and plan on participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count at least one of the days. We have participated in this citizen science project for many years, keeping a record of the birds that come to our yard during the count period. This activity started us on a long term quest to learn all of the birds that come to visit us, learning their names and habits.