Busy in Our Backyard

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The cold and wet weather over the weekend brought quite a lot of birds to our backyard feeders. This is my list for an hour on Saturday afternoon:

20 House Sparrows

5 Northern Cardinals

3 Carolina Chickadees

3 Tufted Titmice

2 Carolina Wrens

2 Blue Jays

2 White-winged Doves

1 Orange-crowned Warbler

1 Yellow-rumped Warbler

1 Northern Mockingbird

1 House Finch.

I was pleased to see that our one-legged male Northern Cardinal continued to thrive and was fit enough to chase away three other male Cardinals. Our solitary female Cardinal showed no interest in any of the males.

I'm not sure how many Carolina Chickadees we had but it was rare for a minute to go by without one on either the feeders, the fence or the birdbath.

I had a problem counting Tufted Titmice, too, since they tend to visit the feeders, fence and birdbath one at a time.  

A major cold front is currently passing through our area and I'm hoping that it brings in some more of our winter residents. So far the only ones who have turned up are Orange-crowned Warbler, Pine Warbler and Yellow-rumped Warbler (below).

It's probably too early for Cedar Waxwings and American Goldfinch but Chipping Sparrows should be here by now. And, of course, I'm still hoping against hope that our Ruby-crowned Kinglet turns up.
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