Feathers and Fuzz

one woman's cure for the empty-nester blues

American Goldfinch

This Feeder is Broken

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This year a number of songbirds have visited the hummingbirds' nectar feeder.

It is interesting how quickly the birds will check out any new addition to the landscape.  Being spoiled as they are, they must assume every feeder dispenses food for all.  Their mission is to figure out how it works.  The Tufted Titmouse was not one bit happy about the plastic, yellow flowers.  Both he and the American Goldfinch were not amused when they could not savor the insect "behind the glass".  The Tanager, on the other hand, seemed content to give the feeder a good look (above and below), then move on to the suet.

Goldfinch Nearly Becomes Hawk Food

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I think most of us cheer for the underdog.  In this video an American Goldfinch (the underdog) nearly becomes hawk food.  It’s close, but the Goldfinch wins the day.

Actually, it’s not all that rare for the hawks to miss.  As able hunters as hawks are, they have their own headaches.  Many birds announce a hawk’s presence … the Blue Jay and the American Crow being notable among them.  In fact, the Crows will gather together to chase a hawk out of the area — and they are VERY persistent about it!  Providing ample vegetation in the area of the bird feeders is another hawk-headache as it gives birds a place to escape an attempted attack.

That said, I swear my hawks watch as closely as do the smaller birds when I head out to refresh the bird feeders each afternoon.  They all see this time of day as “dinner time” … seed for the hungry birds, and birds for the hungry hawks.  It’s pretty common for the feeders to stay vacant for quite some time after a refresh.

As I said under Lessons Learned, I get that predation is vital to the balance in nature.  Got it.  I’m still cheering for the Goldfinch!