Time for Project FeederWatch

Project FeederWatch starts on Saturday, Nov. 13. I signed up again this year. It's fun to know that my observations are going to help the scientists at Cornell Lab of Ornithology understand the overall picture of the bird populations across the U.S. My count days will be Sundays and Mondays. If you're not familiar with Project FeederWatch (PFW), it is a program where people watch the birds for two consecutive days at their feeders, birdbaths, or anything they have put out specifically for birds and report the highest number at any given time. I am hoping that having the feeders in the woods and the ground feeder on the west side of my property will help the numbers of birds I see.

On Sunday, I noticed a sparrow that looked a little smaller than the House Sparrows at the ground feeder in my backyard. I grabbed my binoculars and saw the first Chipping Sparrow of the season. Several people have told me in the store that they have already had American Goldfinches coming to their feeder, so I went ahead and put out my thistle feeder. So far I haven't seen anything on it. I keep hoping every time I get my memory card from my BirdCam that I'll have a picture of a Red-breasted Nuthatch on the feeder, but no luck on that yet. The wintering birds have arrived in good numbers. Yesterday there were Yellow-rumped Warblers all over the place. Eastern Phoebes were calling. I saw a Hermit Thrush last week. Northern Flickers make their presence known with their cirr call. I still haven't seen any Ruby-crowned Kinglets or Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.

The boys and I have begun clearing trails in the woods to make walking easier and give us access to different parts of the woods. As we go, I'm cutting wood for firewood. We got within 30 feet of finishing our first trail yesterday, but darkness got us before we could finish. We should be able to get that done on Sunday pretty quickly. There are several small tallow trees to cut out and one pretty good size one in the way. I'm hoping by spring migration to have several trails cut through the woods. It would be nice to be able to get to areas now where walking is nearly impossible because of all the blackberry vines and trees that have fallen.

Here are a couple of pictures of a Tufted Titmouse on one of the feeders in the woods. I just love these little birds!