Project FeederWatch 4th Weekend

This weekend of Project FeederWatch was a little slower. It rained nearly all weekend and the Sharp-shinned Hawk was around quite a bit. But, we were able to add three more birds to our PFW list - Carolina Chickadee, Eastern Bluebird and Pine Warbler bringing our species total to 13. The chickadees had never shown up at the feeders while we were watching them on previous PFW weekends. The bluebirds came in and enjoyed the birdbath. The Pine Warblers came to the suet and the seed cylinder with sunflower hearts and fruit. The Chipping Sparrow numbers were way down, probably due some to the House Sparrow numbers being way up. If it doesn't rain next weekend, I'm going to put out the trap for them and try to thin them out. They're starting to show interest in my martin housing and I'm not going to put up with that! A male Northern Cardinal visited the feeders yesterday and was missing the feathers around each of his eyes. I'm not sure what was going on there.

Tree Swallows flew over the pasture. There were literally hundreds of them. I'm not sure what they are catching out there, but they were certainly going after something! The Red-bellied Woodpecker still shows no interest in trying the feeders, although he's out there in the tree quite a bit. Hopefully he'll find them and be a regular. A Northern Flicker called from somewhere close yesterday. It would be fun to see him at the feeders as well.