Saturday, January 17, 2009

The birds returned

I don't know what happened. For three days no birds visited my feeders. I was becoming paranoid. Not a single bird was at any feeder at any time of the day when I looked out. Where did they all go? Was I putting out inferior bird seed? Did they see me eating chicken for dinner? Were my former visitors telling their bird friends to stay away from that house? It was strange as I'm accustomed to many dozens of birds visiting throughout the day. The feeders were full and I had even added some of those suet blocks, these of the peanut butter variety which have attracted little interest so far.

Well they came back last evening in droves. Today as well. And a special treat, a little flycatcher joined up with the finches. I can't tell for sure which variety, but this link takes you to a picture of a Willow Flycatcher that looks just like him. However, the description says he's supposed to be wintering in the tropics. He must have gotten left behind when the family set out for Mexico.

A week ago the Tribune ran a story about a sighting of a white-breasted nuthatch, and I'll be darned, right after reading the story, I looked out and saw that same little fella at my own feeders. A true coincidence. I had to sit and stare at him a long time as I couldn't believe he showed up right at that moment.

I'm sure I'm missing some sightings of unusual birds, but I don't get to spend as much time as I'd like observing. I'm just glad they decided to come back and give me another chance. I'll try not to commit any bird faux pas in the future.

Isn't it about bald eagle sighting season again? Maybe in a few weeks.

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