Nearly two dozen robins burst on the scene today, fresh upon the heels of a 3-4 inch snowfall that turned the area into a winter wonderland. An occasional robin had been spotted in the past week, but few since pre-Christmas. Maybe the thaw and rain earlier this week drew a few back from more southerly locales. Riding a Jet Blue plane north a week ago, it was clear there was an absolute snow line on the coastal Maryland/Delaware border, south of which the robins and others would feel quite happy, I suspect.
A pair of downy woodpeckers are working the oak trees, and have shared meals at the suet hanging about 15 feet from my office window. Right now, a starling is poised on the line from which the suet hangs, trying to figure out how to get some. Four of the critters are circling, grabbing a few bites before letting go (they can’t hold on for long) and then taking turns picking up bits knocked off to the ground below. A handful of juncos and white throated sparrows went through the same routine earlier.
Regulars through the winter have been a pair of cardinals, half a dozen juncos, up to 12 white-throated sparrows, two fox sparrows (new in January), a song sparrow, up to 20 mourning doves and marauding bands of starlings although happily they are not often on scene.
The usual gulls wheel overhead. Three days ago I spotted a black-backed gull chowing down on the carcass of an unlucky fish on the pond ice -- probably a victim of the cold the bird saw floating in an ice-free area.
A yellow-shafted flicker blazed in and out of the feeding area this week, but remains mostly hidden. From the pond, up to 20 mallards and a couple of pair of black ducks regularly forage at my feeding station and have found another soup kitchen on the west side of our pond where neighbors two doors away are providing corn, it appears. There is a definite duck pecking order in close competition, with the black ducks clearly far more aggressive. They even challenge the 2-4 squirrels that come around to gobble up the sunflower seeds.
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