Happy Spring Eastern Phoebes Have Arrived!

 

Happy spring! FOY (first of year) Eastern Phoebe arrived yesterday here in MA, I was so excited to hear its slighly raspy "fee-bee" song. Pansies proliferate at the garden centers, and mini-daffies can be planted. After this long, difficult winter, spring seems so much sweeter!

American Woodcocks Have Arrived "Peent"

FOY (first-of-year) American Woodcock recently, my target bird! Went out to a known area hoping the snow would be melted enough for woodcocks to have some open ground to display and it was. No sooner got there than 2 woodcocks flew in over my head. The craziest thing was my good friends and Big Year (a birding competition to see how many birds you can see in a year) birding legend record holders in the North America and AOU area Tammy McQuade and David McQuade called me to say hello at that moment, just as I was getting the bird I had come after. Perfect serendipity timing! One woodcock then landed, began "peenting" and launched into a display flight rising 200 ft. in the air and making a twittering sound with his wings, then spiraled down making a chirping sound. Females come to the display area, chose and mate with males then breed in a ground nest in the woods and raise the young themselves. Look for woodcocks now at dusk in open areas near woods and you may see (or hear as it is hard to see with binoculars in the dim light) this amazing ritual. A true sign of spring. I love woodcocks! Photo from another time.

Winter Bird Therapy: Beauty at your Bird Feeders!

Through the window, winter bird therapy: Symphony in blue, yay! the Carolina Wren is surviving, black on white, our winter "snowbirds." Hope you all who are stuck indoors and enduring the frigid temps, are feeding the birds. It's beauty, entertainment, engagement, and knowing you are helping these feathered spirits.

 

Red Squirrel Cuteness!!

Red Squirrel has a home under the now buried brush pile that was originally for the birds. It did not come out during the storm. Red Squirrels (unlike gray) are territorial and have territories averaging 2-5 acres. They have a main cache of food usually hidden in the ground, a stone wall, a burrow, or under a brush pile. They can make their nest in trees, or live under fallen logs, in stone walls, buildings, or underground tunnels they dig themselves. Ounce for ounce they are one of the feistiest critters out there but so cute!

 

How To Help Birds in Severe Winter Weather

                    

American Goldfinches and Pine Siskin on lower right 

Dark-eyed Junco in snow

Severe winter weather with below 0 degrees temperatures and storms is invading much of the eastern area of the country now. This makes it hard for birds to find food and survive. Birds cannot live for more than a day or two without food and providing feeders may help them survive. To help your birds get through winter in areas of the country where there is severe winter weather, start with an excellent bird feeder set up. Make sure you include multiple tubular, hopper, screen, and suet feeders filled with a variety of quality bird seeds and suet. Focus on providing black oil sunflower (which has a high oil, thus calorie count), seed mixes that contain a good amount of black oil sunflower and, for finches, Nyjer (thistle) or finch mix seed. Also include suet which is a calorie-rich food that provides much needed energy for birds in cold weather.

Place feeders near cover so the birds can escape wind and cold. Near pines or other evergreens is ideal, especially if they face south. Place feeders on poles with squirrel baffles and locate them 12 or more feet from any place from which a squirrel can jump.

 Clean off snow from feeders whenever it accumulates from a storm. This includes shoveling snow from under the feeders so ground feeding species like Mourning Doves, White-throated Sparrows and juncos can access seeds that birds drop from the above feeders.Consider using the snow blower to clear under the feeders if it is feasible. Some people make a big brush pile with a hollow middle inside and sprinkle seed on the ground in the middle of it so ground feeding species can get the seed. The more feeders you have, the more kinds of birds you will attract. 

Winter target birds. In addition to regular winter birds like chickadees, titmice, goldfinches, nuthatches, cardinals, jays, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, juncos, and White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, you may attract rarer species like Common Redpolls, Pine Siskins, and Evening Grosbeaks.

Once you finish shoveling the snow go inside, pour a cup of hot chocolate, get out your binoculars and field guide and, though the window, watch a lot of happy birds flock to your feeders.

And if you're looking for to identify the birds you see, get our new Stokes Essential Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America. With 250 species and over 580 stunning photos,  it contains all the birds you will see at your feeders and the essential ones beyond. For the more advanced birders on your list get our best-selling, 

Buy Now! The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America

It was recently divided into Eastern and Western editions, and we also have a new pocket guide for backyard birders.

Buy Now! The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Eastern and Western Regions

Buy Now! The Stokes Essential Pocket Guide to Birds of North America

Enjoy!

Winter Birding

Cold. Windy. Car birding. That's what it's been like. A Northern Mockingbird warms up on the roadside near its treasured winter food supply of winterberry. 5 Song Sparrows make a living on the weedy roadside. Eastern Bluebirds are still here and eat berries (and suet at my feeder). A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was found on my Christmas Bird Count, one of a handful in the CBC area, unusual to have so many here now relatively speaking.

(Nikon P950 photos)

FIRST BIRD OF THE YEAR!

 What was your first bird of 2026? Mine was 25 juncos with a Fox Sparrow mixed in! Happy New Year and good birding in 2026!