Notes From a Northwestern Ontario Backyard – March 2021

Hello again from Manitouwadge!

First off on a good note, the Western Meadowlark is still here, still visiting my yard almost daily & looks perfectly healthy. Such a beautiful bird!

Western Meadowlark sitting in the sun on a cold day, on the stump of my crabapple tree.

 

Sitting on the edge of my platform feeder after having a good breakfast.

 

Poking around on the ground under the platform feeder.

 

BUT!! I recently found out that this beautiful bird has a dark side: one day last week, it killed a Common Redpoll in my yard! I never expected that from a bird that is a seed & insect eater but research after the fact showed that these things do indeed happen. I have photos of the whole scenario … they are a bit distant but those that are squeamish may wish to scroll past.

 

In this first shot, the Redpoll is in front of the Meadowlark, approaching it as they are feeding on the ground.

 

Shot #2, the Redpoll is much closer now (the Meadowlark has not moved) ……

 

In shot #3, the Meadowlark shot out with its feet, grabbed the Redpoll & proceeded to peck into its head multiple times! The Meadowlark then ate portions of the Redpoll for 3 minutes before turning away & resuming seed eating. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why the Redpoll got so close to a much larger bird in the first place! I suspect the Redpoll was ill & not taking the precautions that it normally would.

 

Once the Meadowlark flew back into the trees a few minutes later, a Crow came down & grabbed the Redpoll carcass & took it away. Nothing wasted. The only evidence that remained of the whole scene was a couple small drops of blood in the snow. Nature can be HARSH!

 

So, in all of that excitement, did anyone even notice the Starling that was on the platform feeder in those photos?! 🙂

 

First Starling of the season on my platform feeder, a lovely female. I know a lot of people don’t like Starlings because they are not native and …. let’s face it …. they are feeder & food hogs! …. but they really are quite stunning!

 

A male (left) & female Starling on my platform feeder yesterday. Do you know how to tell male from female in this species? Look at the base of their bills: the male has blue, the female has pink. Cool, huh?

 

And now, another black bird, this time the majestic Raven. I love when they visit my feeders. This one had its work cut out for him/her. I had a suet cake on the platform feeder (went through 4 of them this season) and the Canada Jays loved it. So did the Chickadees ….. but so did the Raven. He would try to pick up the cake to fly away with it but the cake was much too heavy when full size. Twice, the Raven picked it up only to immediately drop it on the ground below the platform. Twice I picked it up & put it back so the smalled birds could eat a bit more. The third time the Raven dropped it, he put a big crack in it. I knew it wouldn’t be there much longer. Sure enough, the next day, the Raven returned, wedged his top beak into the crack & picked up the suet cake!

 

Such a handsome bird! Love this pose, showing the shape of his tail. Beautiful profile.

 

Getting ready to attempt stealing the suet cake for the first time. 🙂

 

Third time was the charm! He couldn’t fly far with it but went just a little ways, then dropped it & broke it into smaller pieces. The Crows helped that last time!

 

So here are some photos of other recent visitors to my yard & feeders.

 

Blue Jay

 

Canada Jay. I’ve stopped seeing them as they are nesting now.

 

An Evening Grosbeak! I’ve been seeing a small flock of them around all winter but they just have not been coming to my feeders.

 

A female Pine Grosbeak! I’ve had a few Pines come the feeders once in a while this winter but very sporadically.

 

Finally had a Chickadee slow down long enough for a photo!

 

Twice this winter, we had exceptional scenes of hoar (or rime?) frost. The Redpoll fits right in.

 

I thought this photo was adorable! This male Common Redpoll was watching others that were in the tree above him.

 

I have a resident pair of Red Breasted Nuthatches. They’ve been coming around for about 5 years now & bring babies every summer. Lately, a third one has been around & all hell breaks loose in the yard when he/she shows up.

 

For those wondering, I have not seen the White Throated Sparrow now in about 10 days. He lived under my back deck all winter long, well protected from the weather & had tons of food. Last time I saw him, he looked perfectly healthy so chances are, he just moved on when the weather improved. I’ll never know for sure. 

 

I’m happy to say that we still have a pair of Red Foxes coming around. Their denning time is quickly approaching so I doubt we’ll be seeing both of them much longer but in the meantime, I finally caught a couple of snapshots of BOTH of them with the webcam recently. 🙂

One fox under the feeder & one pair of floating eyes as the other came over our back fence.

 

One of the few times we’ve seen the foxes together under the feeders.

 

One of the pair (I’m assuming the male) tends to snooze on the very top of a mountain of snow in my next door neighbour’s yard, just over my back fence. I took this photo from my office window. It was nap time! 🙂

 

So that’s it for now. You can still view my feeders over the webcam as Project FeederWatch has been extended (possibly permanently?) to the end of April so the cam will stream until then.  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/ontario-feederwatch/

Happy Spring!

 

15 Comments

  1. Awesome, Beverley! Always happy to teach little tidbits! 🙂

  2. Thanks so much, Jane. 🙂

  3. Exactly! Everyone has to eat. 🙂

  4. Thanks so much, Shane! Yes, had the webcam here through Cornell since 2011. 🙂

  5. Thank you so much, Susie! 🙂

  6. Thanks, Lenora. 🙂

  7. LOL! Thanks so much, Pat! 🙂

  8. Your posts always leave me with massive envy at the variety of birds in your yard!

  9. i love receiving your posts Tammie. Keep up the good work, lovely photo’s and commentary. Surprising story about the Meadowlark!

  10. Wonderful article! Exceptional reporting! Thank you!

  11. I stumbled across your camera while watching the Hellgate Osprey camera. I have only been watching yours for a few months but got hooked right away. Being from southern Indiana originally, I have been following the Meadowlark closely and the foxes as I love foxes. I often forward scenes to my Brother who has his own feeder setup but no camera, in Indiana. Thank you so much for what you do and from the information provided, I see you have been doing this for a long time.

  12. I am amazed about the Western Meadowlark, it just demonstrates what one has to do in order to survive!

  13. Such a treat Tammie. … beautiful photos & great info. Thank You Bird Lady 💕

  14. Thank you, Tammie, for the beautiful photographs! I am so happy to see that the Meadowlark made it through the entire winter. What a trooper! Your bird cam has given me many hours of pleasure and I thank you for taking care of it. I did learn something new (to me) from you this season – that male starlings have blue-tipped bills and females pink-tipped. That’s pretty cool! Happy birding and have a great summer!

  15. So nice to wake up to this.Great read and photos again Tammie.
    Thank You for taking the time to write about your observations and keeping us informed.

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