A Renewed Hatred for House Sparrows

Yesterday, I went out and got my Purple Martin housing ready for their return. A customer told me that the Eastern Bluebirds on her property have already begun making nests in her boxes. I decided to go and check out the box that the bluebirds have used over the past four years. As I walked toward the box, a male House Sparrow flew out. I opened the box and he had already begun constructing a nest. It was obviously a sparrow nest and not the neat, compact nest a bluebird makes. I pulled the nest out and when I did, two bluebird bodies fell out of the box. I examined them and they both had the classic look of a sparrow kill. He probably watched for them to enter the box and then went in and killed them. He built the nest on top of their bodies. I will begin this weekend a new effort to rid the world of as many House Sparrows as possible. I modified my trap to keep the blackbirds and larger birds out and will begin trapping again. I hate House Sparrows!

Project FeederWatch Update & New Property Birds

Quite a bit has been going on lately with the birds on the property. Unfortunately with all that has been going on in my life, I haven't had a chance to write about it!

With Project FeederWatch, the species count at my feeders has remained pretty steady, between 23 and 27. I've been amazed at the number of Dark-eyed Juncos that are still coming to my feeders. Most years I don't see any. This year I've got at least two most of the time in the yard, and sometimes as many as six. Song Sparrows are quite abundant as well. On my last two count days, there were seven of them on the feeders. The American Goldfinch numbers really picked up on January 23 and 24. I counted six the week before that. There have been at least 50 over the next weeks, with a high of 70 on the Feb. 6 and 7 count days. Probably the most exciting bird for me this year is the female Purple Finch (pictured) that showed up at the feeders in the woods. I had my BirdCam set up on the big tube feeder on January 26. I got the memory card on the 29th and saw her pictures. She makes property bird #198 for me. Purple Finches are rare on the Upper Texas Coast, showing up occasionally in the winter.

In other bird news, I still regularly see an American Woodcock when I'm walking in the woods. He usually sits alongside the trail until I get close and the he flushes, normally scaring me. This morning he flushed and flew straight ahead of me giving me excellent looks at him. Along the final stretch of the trail to the feeders this morning, I could hear a bird making a call I was not familiar with. It was an Eastern Towhee sitting at the top of one of the thick brush piles. That's not a bird I normally see in the woods. That was fun to see him. The birds are beginning to sing as the weather warms up. Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, White-eyed Vireos, White-throated Sparrows and Pine Warblers are getting tuned up for their spring songs. I have seen two Barred Owls along the trail that runs alongside the gully near where I put up the nesting box for them. The first time I saw them, they flew toward the box. I got to the box and saw something sticking out of the hole and got excited until I realized it was a raccoon. I don't know why he was in there, but I sure am hoping it wasn't to raid the nest.

So far this year, I have seen 50 species of birds. I am looking forward to spring!