What I noticed most this week (from September 7) is that the woodpecker numbers seemed to be up, so even if they did breed locally there seem to be too many of them. Yesterday there was a white-breasted nuthatch in with the hairies--I didn't know they flocked like that. Also yesterday a flicker chased one of the robins (lots of robins in interesting plumage around), which kind of surprised me because I haven't seen a flicker being that aggressive--they certainly forage happily on the so-called "lawn" with the starlings. Another surprise--the flickers (or at least one of them) have been calling nearly all day. I thought they finished that sort of thing when breeding season was over.
I saw a lot of undersides of robins and some of starlings and flickers on Tuesday as the birds foraged in the Virginia creeper. All the birds seemed to eat & skedaddle, possibly returning a few moments later (can't verify it's the same birds returning). I'm guessing they don't want to stick around too long in case of hawks, because any Coopers hawks seem just as able to read the foliar flags (red leaves) as the fruit-seeking migrants. Which is a bit amusing, since the fruit seems to be ripe but the leaves aren't red (today I saw one small bit of red). Makes me wonder if the fruit-ripening and the leaf-reddening are on independent timetables.
