Project Feeder Watch starting soon and yard activity sucks!

[Rob'in'To]

So, this coming weekend starts another season of PFW.  And the species count in my backyard lately really sucks.  No other way to put it.  The Goldfinches disappeared a number of weeks ago and today I saw one House Finch after many weeks.  It's mainly House Sparrows and Starlings with some straggling Red-wings.  Four Blue Jays showed up this morning and four Chickadees this afternoon.  Even the Cardinals are really scarce.

I'm curious what is up with things?  No changes in my  feeders or seed offerings.  Perhaps I've just been spoiled over the years?

A Sharp-shin has been on the attack but things were quite dull even before he arrived.  I do welcome him to take all the House Sparrows he pleases and a few Starlings.

[Dr. John]

We haven't seen goldfinches in ages and they are usually with us year round. Same with cardinals and house finches, so maybe there is some kind of trend here. We have only seen one white-throated this fall, which is much less than usual. We have had our juncos return though.

-John

[Leslie Kinrys]

At this time of year we get excited and put out our feeders. We forget that Fall is a time of bounty for both people and animals. There is still lots of readily available food for the birds and they don't need our offerings. Once it gets cold, rainy and snowy, we'll see birds returning to our feeders.

I'm looking forward to another winter of PFW. This will be my 13th season of counting birds!

[Reuven_M]

I'd say the birds are taking advantage of the last of the warm weather, and will reappear as soon as it gets cold

[Rob'in'To]

Ya, that makes sense.  Just miss the activity.  I don't hate the Sparrows and Starlings visiting but not thrilling stuff either.  The Gold Finch disappearance is strange.  I can't recall when I had it where I did NOT see even one of them wild Canaries.

Hope for a great PFW season.  This is my fifth or sixth.  I enjoy reading my old notes and rough reports from previous years.  Some of my scribes take me back to certain days just like that because of some of the things I had seen on a particular day.  Or noting RWBBs here at Christmas and a Grackle into near February.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

[Bird Brain]

Rob ... Cardinals, Chickadees and Goldfinches are all out here in my neighbourhood at both Lake Aquitaine and Lake Wabukayne.  Starting to see lots of Red-breasted Nuthatches as well.  

[Halton Hills]

The Gold Finch disappearance is strange.  I can't recall when I had it where I did NOT see even one of them wild Canaries.

I have to agree......they have disappeared for a couple of months from here as well.

They have in the past always been around in numbers regardless of the seasonal wild food bounty.

The niger feeder refilling frequency has gone from days to weeks......  


.

[dually]

I am a newbie. Haven't had a goldfinch in a long time.  I thought I was doing something wrong. Guess I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one not seeing any goldfinches.

[Rob'in'To]

I figure once I start to see the Gold Finches return, I'll dump my nijer and give 'em fresh stuff.  The RWBBs are picking at it so it's moving slowly.

Today I had zero activity all morning.  And I mean NOTHING at all.  Yesterday had about 35 House Sparrows.  I figured there was a predator out there and checked a couple times with no sighting.  Then just before work, did one more look about and still came up with nothing.  Suddenly my neighbour comes out, makes some noise at the back of his house and out flies a Sharpie from one of the pines right behind my house.  He didn't go very far though...  over to another neighbour's big tall tree and sat there.  I've seen the Sharpie a few times in the past couple weeks and hoping he gets bolder through the winter like the one I had last year which allowed me to get pretty close to him.  Beautiful little killer he was/is.


Cropped to heck being 5 yards over and way up the biggest tree on the block...

[Howieh]

Still a pretty good shot Rob! Not much doing here either, a few sparrows, a pack of feral chickadees!, a pair of cardinals (the young one finally got the hint and left for greener pastures!) and one hyperactive red breasted nuthatch! and I'm still waiting and hoping for the robins and waxwings to show up on my front curb tree that is full of ripe red berries. I did see a couple of goldfinches Monday afternoon but that was in Ross Lord Park. My wife is going to the women's show so I have to decide where to go Friday(?) pm; looks like a cool, showery day but unless it's a complete washout I'll probably head west (Col Sam, Humber Arboretum or maybe even Lake Aquitaine?). Any other ideas are welcomed!

[Bird Brain]

full of ripe red berries.

Any idea what type of berries these are?

Lake Aquitaine?

Hi Howie.  If you're going to come all the way out here to Lake Aquitaine, you might as well check out Lake Wabukayne and Maplewood Park as well!   Perhaps we could meet up for some birding?

[Howieh]

Hi Jo-Anne,

I think it's a flowering cherry tree so I guess they're cherries. I've already had a few robins feeding on them but it will probably require a coating of snow (which makes it hard for the birds to feed on the ground?) to attract larger numbers of robins and, hopefully, waxwings.

Friday is looking worse weather wise so I'll probably stay close to home but I will get out there eventually and I'll definitely let you know when, so maybe you can show me around!

[Bird Brain]

Hi Jo-Anne,

Friday is looking worse weather wise so I'll probably stay close to home but I will get out there eventually and I'll definitely let you know when, so maybe you can show me around!

Hi Howieh.  No problem.  Yeah, a nice sunny day would be good.  

[Rob'in'To]

Two House Finches showed up this weekend and one Goldfinch.  Woo hoo!  Some Chickadees are out  there right now.  And the Hawk hasn't been seen in about a week now.  I do miss the Hawk as the Starlings return.

Ang and I did Aquataine (is that the smaller one) and Wabukayne (with the little water park and skate board area?) a while back.  We enjoyed the smaller one more so with some nice Heron sightings.  Of course this was in much nicer weather.  Never heard of Maplewood.  It's another world out that way, so it seems to me.  But we all have our stomping grounds so to speak, eh.

[Rob'in'To]

Oh, and as the weather gets colder and nastier, I must say that I do enjoy my stomping ground being the backyard and I can view it with a nice hot coffee with Baileys from my kitchen window.