Sometimes I forget that backyard birding is real birding. Birding at someone else’s feeders as the Anchorage Audubon group did in Seward yesterday reminds me that birding at my own feeders “counts” as birding too. Today because of various commitments and because of rain and snow and sleet, I did not bird outside my yard. Instead I watched my feeders as the birds frantically filled up after the morning’s gentle snow and before and after the afternoon’s rain and sleet and driving snow.
Most of my usual yard birds came during that time (except for the usual Steller’s Jays), beginning with Dark-eyed Juncos at 2:40 and ending with flock after flock of overflying Mallards going to someone else’s yard for supper. In between, a few Pine Grosbeaks came to the platform feeders. A Downy Woodpecker came before the last snow and then reappeared during it, and just hung there, only eating sporadically. A single Black-capped Chickadee dined on mealworms, a Black-billed Magpie ate a few mealworms that had fallen on the ground, and a Common Raven just flew over on its way to its evening roost. The Common Redpolls came in a small flock of about 10 before the last snow, and then reappeared after the snow stopped.
The yard was a busy place, and it was fun to just relax and let the birds come to me. Tomorrow though I hope to be more proactive and get out there and go find birds!
110 species so far
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 