From the Backyard

[Joe]

It seems that interesting birds tend to appear all at once.  Just before leaving for school and work today, Julian and I saw a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Chickadees, 3 Male Cardinals that have been chasing each other all around the neighbourhood lately and 2 Pine Siskins (backyard firsts for us).  

Not all that rare, but we see the Nuthatch and Downy only about once a month in the backyard... 3 singing active Cardinals and a lifer all in the span of 30 seconds.  Pretty cool.

Joe

[Howieh]

I've noticed the same thing here (small backyard in mid North York). A couple of weeks ago during a warm (+7C) rain, in addition to all of the above species, we also had finches, juncos and robins - what a great crowd! I'm not sure what brings them all together at once but I assume it has something to do with food supply and perhaps even security from predators - perhaps one of the forum experts can comment on this.

[norman]

I have to agree with your conclusions re why groups of songbirds suddenly appear at feeding stations. Of course, you can add coincidence to the mix. As far as typical mixed flocks out there in the woods (e.g., , predator-alert protection figures in the equation, although it's quite selfish in the evolutionary sense), I don't know the full story, but thanks for getting me interested. To the journals!


In my case, we had a junco attack a few weeks ago, with a cardinal, and, thanks to a small hybrid tea rose (don't cut them back in the fall; winter breakage is usually minimal, or easy to fix in April), a mockingbird, a species on an unprecedented (aside from our three European transplants) range-expansion rampage.


I became aware of the presence of the mocker when Margaret begain her familiar mimidophile shrieking before she ripped the bathroom door off the hinges and crashed through the heavy plate-glass sliding doors leading to the feeders ...


It's been pretty quiet out there since. We all have to deal with such adversity at times. Or do we?

[silverfoxx]

It's definitely not coincidence. My experience is that the birds not only come in bunches but they come at the same times every day. A good example is taking place right now. After an hour of very little activity I saw two siskins and a goldfinch on the finch feeders - then a nuthatch flew into view, immediately followed by two chickadees. A downy woodpecker then arrived at the suet cage and a minute later a male cardinal is at the hopper feeder.