The Hijacking of the Nest Box – Who will win?

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows

The morning of May 10^th began in typical fashion.  The female Tree Swallow was perched on the top of the nest box holding straw in her bill – straw to carry into the box to finish building her nest.

While the female Tree Swallow flew into the nest hole with straw, the male Tree Swallow would guard her from either the top of the box or from the nearby fence post.

I wondered when the female would finish building the nest. She and her mate had claimed the nest box on May 1st, just one week after we had put it up, and she had started building the nest that very day.

The last time I had looked inside the box – on the evening of May 8th – there had been a beautifully woven, circular nest inside. Two dark feathers had been placed at the right front of the nest.

All seemed calm and peaceful that sunny morning of May 10^th.  But then, a surprising event occurred.  A pair of Eastern Bluebirds showed up – male and female – and landed on the box!  The Tree Swallows were nowhere in sight.  Perhaps they were flying over the nearby hayfield, catching a late breakfast of flying insects.

Both the male and female Bluebirds immediately began investigating the box.  While one bird perched on the top of the box, the other would peek through its entrance hole.  The photo to the right shows the male on top of the box, with the female on the front.  The hole does not show in the photo, but the female is pointing her bill toward it.  From the photo you can see the brightness of the colors of the male in comparison to the duller colors of the female.

Eventually, the female Bluebird flew from the box, while the male stayed.  All at once, another male Bluebird appeared, and a fight ensued between the two males – right on top of the nest box!

I am not sure which Bluebird won the fight, but soon afterward, the male Tree Swallow returned to the top of the box and started another fight.  This time, two different species were fighting for ownership of the nest box – the Tree Swallow and the newly arriving Bluebird!

As I watched the two males lunge at each other, one bird dropped to the ground, and the other bird followed.  For a few seconds, it looked like the Tree Swallow was on top of the Bluebird, pecking away at him.

The Bluebird then escaped and flew to a nearby tree.  I was hoping that he was not injured and that he had survived the attack.

Later that day, I began second-guessing myself about having seen two male Bluebirds fighting over the box earlier that morning.  Perhaps one of the birds in the skirmish had actually been the male Tree Swallow.  In the right type of sunlight, it might be easy to mistake a male Tree Swallow for a male Bluebird because of the brilliant blue on their backs.

After all, our local Bluebirds are said to begin their first nests of the season around mid March at the earliest. It was now only May 10th and I had not yet seen any baby Bluebirds around here. Would our local male Bluebirds actually be searching for nest sites in early May?

In this region of the US, it is recommended to have Bluebird nest boxes up by mid March in order for the Bluebirds to use them for their first brood of the season. However, we were late mounting our nest box and did not get it up until April 24th. No chance of Bluebirds very soon, I thought! We were consoled with the thought that Bluebirds might use the box for their second brood, perhaps during late June after the Tree Swallows were finished with it.

 

I doubted whether our local Bluebirds, if they had begun their early broods in March or April, would be finished with the stages of egg-laying, egg-incubation, feeding and fledging the nestlings, and continuing to feed the fledglings outside the nest for a couple of weeks thereafter.  The period from the laying of the first egg to the fledging of the young lasts at least 33, but sometimes up to 45, days. Another 12 days would have to be added to that because that is the length of time that baby Bluebirds still need to be fed once they leave the nest.  And it is the male parent Bluebird who often endures the sole burden of feeding the fledglings because the female is sometimes off to build another nest during that time.  Therefore, the length of time that a male is occupied with breeding activities can be from 45 to 57 days, at least a month and a half.  And that does not include the time period of mating that precedes egg-laying.

Well, I suppose it would be possible for the male Bluebirds to have completed their first brood of the season by May 10th.  Or perhaps the males had experienced unsuccessful nesting attempts or found their mates later in the season then usual.  Another possibility is that cold weather had delayed early nesting attempts.

To attempt to solve the mystery, I reviewed my photos from May 10^th and found proof that I had indeed seen two male Bluebirds!  Here is a photo I took of a tree in my yard that morning.  It shows two male Eastern Bluebirds on the branches, identified by their bright blue plumage.  (The females display a much duller blue and have brownish heads.)  In the photo, the bird barely visible at the lower right next to the feeder is actually a Blue Jay.

By the time the skirmishes were finished, it was late morning.  A pair of male and female Bluebirds kept returning to the top of the box.  I don’t know whether the male was the one who had been in the fight with the Tree Swallow.  But I do know that, by the time the pair of Bluebirds seemed to have claimed the nest box, I didn’t see either of the pair of Tree Swallows on or around it.

Meanwhile, the male and female Bluebirds continued to investigate the box.  Just as the Tree Swallows had done nine days previously, the Bluebirds, one by one, would test the hole for size and enter the box to examine its contents.  Neither stayed in the box for long.  They were too busy checking out the remainder of the box. The photo on the right shows the female peering inside the hole.

In the Eastern Bluebird species (and in other bird species as well), the female is the one who must approve of the nest site.  The male will first find the nest site and “present” it to her, but she is the one who must give the go-ahead to use the site for nesting.

The female Bluebird therefore seemed to be more thorough in her investigation of the box.  After all, she was the one who would have to approve of it.  Consequently, she diligently inspected the outside of the box as well as the inside.  The photo to the left shows the female examining the back of the box.

But wait! What about the Tree Swallows? They were the ones who had originally found the nest box on May 1st, only a week after we had mounted it. The female had started a nest that very day. She had begun gathering straw and grass in her bill and flying into the nest hole with it.

So which species would be using the nest – the Bluebirds or the Tree Swallows?  I began reading stories of joint nests between the two species, nests in which both Bluebirds and Tree Swallows would lay their eggs and help rear the young.

Time would tell whether Tree Swallows, Bluebirds, or both would be using the nest.  You can find out what eventually occurred by following this blog at the top right of this page. 

I first began having intimate encounters with wild birds when Barn Swallows nested on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  During those encounters, I became convinced that humans and birds can develop meaningful rapports, communicate with each other, and enjoy mutually beneficial relationships.  You can read about how one special Barn Swallow communicated to me in my book Bonding with the Barn Swallows, available at Amazon at:   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494481464/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494481464&linkCode=as2&tag=barnswalfrie-20&linkId=5WME3VAHNSX3EXHH

A Bluebird Nest Box: The Tenants Arrive!

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson

This spring my next-door neighbor kindly put up a Bluebird nest box for me.  After coordinating with our landlord about the location of the box and purchasing the box and the parts to mount it, we finally got it up on April 24th. 

To our pleasant surprise, only one week later, on May 1st, a pair of birds landed on the box and began investigating it!  The two birds took turns poking their heads in and out of the hole to make sure it was the right size.  The photo on the right shows the male investigating the size of the hole.

One by one, the birds entered the nest box and peeked outside through the hole.  One bird would perch on the roof of the box while the other investigated the inside of it.

The photo below shows the male on top of the box with the female inside the box peeking out:

When the birds were satisfied that the box would be suitable for their nest, the female began flying to the nest with straw and carrying it into the box.  The male would guard the box from either its roof or a nearby fence post.

In the photo below, you can see the female on the left side with her feet clutching some straw, and the male guarding from the roof.

But the birds were not Bluebirds.  Instead, they were Tree Swallows!

It was no surprise that Tree Swallows, rather than Bluebirds, decided to use the box.  Although the box was designed for Bluebirds, we did not get it mounted until well after the beginning of the Bluebirds' nesting season, which begins in early to mid March.

However, I was just as delighted with the Tree Swallows as I would have been with Bluebirds.  Tree Swallows are beautiful, too, and an adult Tree Swallow eats about 2,000 flying insects per day.  And the best part was that we only had to have the box up for one week before the Tree Swallows discovered it!

Both male and female Tree Swallows have white breasts and bellies, with dark blue on their backs, wings, tails, and upper heads.  The male is especially beautiful, especially when the sunlight hits his feathers exactly right, showing his lovely iridescent blue!

In the Tree Swallow species, it is the female who builds the nest.  It is the male who has the duty of guarding her and the nest box while she is building it.

The female worked diligently, continuing to bring straw to the box each day.  The male would stand guard duty, either from the top of the box or from the nearby fence post.

Sometimes the female would land on the roof of the box with straw in her beak to rest for a moment before taking it into the nest box.  Sadly, it often took her several attempts to successfully carry the straw into the box.



Below you can see both the male and female on the roof of the box, the male displaying his brilliant, bright blue plumage and the female holding a few strands of straw in her bill.

I began to wonder what the inside of the box looked like.  Was it a hodge-podge of straw and grass, or was it a neatly woven nest?

Around 6 p.m. on May 8th, my neighbor told me she had not seen the Tree Swallows guarding the box that afternoon.  My curiosity then got the best of me, and I could no longer resist looking inside the box.  About half an hour later, with the birds nowhere in sight, I ventured to the box, carefully opened the door, and looked inside.

What I saw was quite an amazement to behold!  Strands of straw were woven into a cup shape, even with a couple of dark feathers in the front.  You can see the strand of straw protruding on the left side of the nest, indicating that the nest was still a work in progress.

Just 30 minutes later, I sighted the female Tree Swallow on the wire above my driveway.  She continued to perch there, softly twittering the whole time, and even let me take quite a few pictures of her.

All seemed peaceful, with everything going as it should.  Little did I know that a surprise was to ensue just two days later.   And that surprise was not to involve eggs or babies.  Follow this blog to find out what the surprise was! 

I first began having intimate encounters with wild birds when Barn Swallows nested on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  During those encounters, I became convinced that humans and birds can develop meaningful rapports, communicate with each other, and enjoy mutually beneficial relationships.  You can read about how one special Barn Swallow communicated to me in my book Bonding with the Barn Swallows, available at Amazon at:   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494481464/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494481464&linkCode=as2&tag=barnswalfrie-20&linkId=5WME3VAHNSX3EXHH

Winter Woodpeckers and What is a First-Year Bird?

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson

Pileated Woodpecker

January 12th was quite a day for me, woodpecker-wise!  Early that morning, for the very first time, a Pileated Woodpecker came to visit one of the feeders on the tree by my driveway.  I had occasionally seen Pileated Woodpeckers around here before, but not in my back yard.  It was a cold and frosty morning, but I managed to get a few shots, like this one.  The physical positions that these woodpeckers are able to assume while eating from feeders are amazing!

Early in the morning of January 17th, I again saw the Pileated Woodpecker as I was leaving home to run some errands.  By the time I arrived back home, it was around noon and the sun was shining brightly.  As I was ascending my porch stairs, I looked over to the tree by the driveway where I had seen the Pileated Woodpecker that morning. There was a Black-Capped Chickadee eating from the feeder.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Soon the Chickadee left, and a Red-Bellied Woodpecker showed up!  You can see him in the picture on the left.  He was obviously a male because of the bright patch of red on the top of his head extending down the back of his neck.

Red-Bellied Woodpeckers do have slightly red bellies, although this woodpecker's red belly does not show in the photo above.  However, if you look very carefully at the photo below (from February 22nd), you may be able to see a light red belly.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker showing his red belly

Downy Woodpecker

After the Red-Bellied Woodpecker finished eating, he hitched up the tree and flew away.  Then yet another type of woodpecker appeared!  This time it was a Downy Woodpecker, as shown in the photo on the left.  The lack of a red patch on the back of its head shows this bird to be a female.

The Downy ate for a few minutes, at which point a Carolina Wren appeared and chased it from the feeder!  In the photo below, the flying bird on the left is the Downy Woodpecker, and you can see the Wren on the feeder on the right.

Carolina Wren having scared Downy Woodpecker from feeder!

Pileated Woodpecker

Since that day, the female Pileated Woodpecker has visited my feeders quite a number of times, often around 8 o’clock in the morning.  On the left is a photo I took of her on the morning of January 24th when we had snow on the ground.  If she looks like Woody Woodpecker, you're not imagining it.  Indeed, the appearance of the Woody Woodpecker cartoon character was derived from the Pileated Woodpecker!  (Thanks to Mary Huebner for this information.)

It turns out that this Pileated Woodpecker is a female.  If she were a male, she would have a red stripe on the lower part of her face instead of a black one.  Ornithologists sometimes call this stripe a “moustache”.

I kept wondering if this female woodpecker had a mate because she is the only Pileated Woodpecker I have seen in my back yard this winter.  I have seen no males, only her.  Last fall I spotted a pair of these woodpeckers on the neighbor’s tree across the road.  This has made me wonder if the Pileated Woodpecker I have been observing in my back yard this winter is the female of that pair.  If so, the question would arise, where is her mate?

Pileated Woodpecker

The photo on the right, taken February 5th on the tree by my driveway, shows how Pileated Woodpeckers move up and down trees.  The Pileated is North America's largest woodpecker, with its length measuring from 16 to 19.5 inches (40 to 49 cm).   There was a North American Woodpecker known to be larger, and that was the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker of the southeastern US.  Sadly, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, which looked much like the Pileated, is now thought to be extinct.

The Pileated Woodpecker generally makes its home in forests and is extremely shy toward humans.  The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region, states that seeing this species up close "usually requires careful stalking."  Reading this made me realize how fortunate I am to have this bird visit my feeders this winter!

To get these pictures, I had to hide behind the wall of my porch.  As long as this shy woodpecker did not know I was there, I was able to snap some photos.  However, as soon as I would move to a different location on the porch, the woodpecker would see me and take flight.

Pileated Woodpecker, female, black stripe on lower part of face

Above is a photo I shot on February 7th.   In this photo you can clearly see the black, horizontal stripe that extends from the beginning of the bill along the side of the face.  As mentioned above, this indicates the woodpecker's gender to be female.  On the male, this stripe is red.

I continued wondering if this female had a mate, and if so, where he was.  I eventually developed a hypothesis, based on a link to photos that my Facebook friend, Nathan Elderkin (thank you, Nathan!), shared with me.  The photos showed baby Pileated Woodpeckers in a nest being fed by their parents.  Surprisingly, the genders of the babies were already apparent!  The males had the red facial stripes, while the corresponding stripes on the females were black.  If you wish to see the photos, you can click here.

Baby Pileated Woodpeckers stay in their nest for a month after they are hatched.  Unlike many other baby birds that do not reveal their genders until after their first molt, baby Pileated Woodpeckers apparently show their genders by their initial plumage.

With this new information about how quickly juvenile Pileated Woodpeckers grow up to look like adults, my hypothesis is that the female Pileated Woodpecker visiting my feeders might be a juvenile.  (If anyone has a different opinion on this, I would welcome your comment below because I am still learning!)

“Juvenile” is one way to describe a bird that was hatched the previous summer.  Another term applied to birds of this age is “first-year”.   A first-year bird is a bird of less than twelve months of age.  Often during winter or spring, a first-year bird can look much like a full adult.  The main difference is that they have yet to experience a mating season or raise a family of their own.  Therefore, despite the fact that the female Pileated Woodpecker looks like a full adult, she could be a first-year bird who has not yet found a mate.

Some birds, like Barn Swallows for instance, retain part of their juvenile plumage until they are nearly a year old.  When North American Barn Swallows arrive in the US during the spring from their southerly wintering grounds, the first-year swallows can generally be identified by their breast bands, which tend to be continuous rather than discontinuous.  All North American Barn Swallow adults display a discontinuous, or "broken", breast band, meaning that the breast band is generally visible on the sides of the body only.  Sometimes, particularly on the males, there is also a dark patch in the center of the breast, which would be part of the breast band if it were continuous. 

When I first began studying Barn Swallows, I was confused by some of the photos on the Internet, which showed adult Barn Swallows with thick, dark, breast bands.  These Barn Swallows did not look like ours here in the US!  I eventually learned that these photos were of Eurasian Barn Swallows, which always display continuous breast bands, whether they are juveniles or adults.  There is much more about the “breast band phenomenon” in my book, Bonding with the Barn Swallows.

So the mystery continues.  Is the female Pileated Woodpecker who is visiting my feeders this winter a full adult?  And, if so, where is her mate, or did something happen to him?  Or, is this female still a juvenile, a first-year bird that was hatched last summer?  If so, I expect that she will find a mate this spring.

I first began having intimate encounters with wild birds when Barn Swallows nested on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  During those encounters, I became convinced that humans and birds can develop meaningful rapports, communicate with each other, and enjoy mutually beneficial relationships.  You can read about my experiences in my book Bonding with the Barn Swallows, available at Amazon at:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494481464/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494481464&linkCode=as2&tag=barnswalfrie-20&linkId=6563CMOIKLNRCK2H

Prices on Amazon fluctuate greatly.  Last week the price of the book was over $35.00, but as of today, March 8, 2015, the price is only $24.20.  I cannot predict when the price will go up again; so if you are interested in purchasing the book, today would be the optimal time!  Just click on the image above to read a preview, and if you would like to purchase it, just click "Add to Cart" on the right side of your screen.

 

How the Mockingbirds enticed me into giving them their own feeder!

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson

My last post was about our resident pair of Mockingbirds disappearing a couple of days before our January 6th snowstorm. I don’t know where they went, but I didn’t see them for over a week. Perhaps they went on their winter vacation … perhaps down to the Caribbean?

I had thought back to last winter when we had weeks and weeks of snow cover.  I hadn't remembered seeing any Mockingbirds during all those weeks.  So I had concluded that our Mockingbirds must dislike snow and that I wouldn’t see them again until early spring.

But I was wrong!  By January 10^th, most of our snow had melted.  And, on that day, the Mockingbirds reappeared!  One of them even posed for me.
 

It was wonderful to have the Mockingbirds back.  Last year, just prior to Christmas, I had forgiven them for being so possessive of the feeders and chasing the other birds away from them.  My solution had been to hang up even more feeders on the trees around the building.  My reasoning was that the Mockingbirds would have a more difficult time guarding all of the feeders at once, consequently allowing the other birds to eat at them.

In the process of becoming accustomed to seeing the Mockingbird pair perched on their tree during most mornings, I had even begun developing an attachment to them!

We had another snowstorm on January 26th.  This time, surprisingly, the Mockingbirds did not leave the area!  On the left you can see one of the birds guarding their feeder that afternoon.

To this day, I have never been able to figure out why these birds disappeared during our January 6th snowstorm, but hung around during our January 26th storm.  But I am so glad they stayed!  I had been worried about them earlier in the month when I couldn't find them anywhere.

With the advent of more snow, I hung a second feeder on the Mockingbirds' tree.  Perhaps the Mockingbirds would start feeling compassion for the other birds who were having difficulty finding food due to the ground being covered with snow.

It took a while for the January 26th snow to finally melt.  Sometimes during certain parts of the day, the Mockingbirds were nowhere around, giving the other birds a chance to feed on their tree.  

I continued to replace the cakes in the feeders on the Mockingbirds' tree.  At one point, all I had left were black oil sunflower seed suet cakes; so the Mockingbirds were left with two of that type of cake on their tree.  Unfortunately, the Mockingbirds were not eating from either cake.  This was the way that I discovered that they truly do not like black oil sunflower seeds.

By early February, most of our snow had melted and I was able to get to the store.  Knowing that the Mockingbirds love my homemade peanut butter cakes, I purchased natural peanut butter, corn meal, sunflower kernels and shelled peanuts.

That night I stayed up late and made four peanut butter cakes from scratch.  The next morning I shifted the remaining chunks of suet on the Mockingbird's tree into the feeders on the other trees and hung one of the new peanut butter cakes on the Mockingbirds’ tree.

The two Mockingbirds immediately began gorging themselves on the new peanut butter cake!  One bird would feed while the other would guard from a higher branch.  I could tell that they deeply appreciated me for hanging the cake for them.

The Mockingbirds and I were striking up quite a friendship.  After my hanging the peanut butter cake on their tree, they were becoming even more grateful to me for feeding them. 

Later that day, I noticed that the cake was also very popular with the Starlings.  While the Mockingbirds were able to chase one or two Starlings away from the peanut butter cake, the arrival of an immense number of Starlings would cause the Mockingbirds to retreat. 

Upon exiting my apartment and stepping out onto the porch, I noticed that that most of the Starlings on the Mockingbirds’ tree would immediately take flight.  I think the Mockingbirds were beginning to notice that, too. 

I do not deliberately attempt to scare the Starlings away.  They automatically fly from the property when any human comes within 30 to 40 feet of them.

The Mockingbirds were becoming increasingly appreciative of me for inadvertently scaring the Starlings away by my presence on the porch.  I was even getting the feeling that the Mockingbirds were welcoming me as they saw me exit from my apartment and step outside.  It was almost as if they were breathing sighs of relief at my taking over “guard duty” for them!

I hung the second homemade peanut butter cake on a tree that is farther from the porch than is the Mockingbirds’ tree.  Both of the new peanut butter cakes were proving to be extremely popular with the all of the birds.  In fact, both of the cakes were gone within 24 hours!

I refilled the empty suet feeder on the Mockingbirds’ tree with another homemade peanut butter cake.  As I began to observe the newly placed cake, I noticed a dozen Starlings descending on it!  Just as before, the Mockingbirds were not chasing any of the Starlings off the tree.  Instead, the Mockingbirds were retreating from the tree.

The replacement peanut butter cake did not even last as long as the first one.  After hanging it out during the afternoon, I noticed it was completely gone by the next morning.

It suddenly dawned on me that I had been feeding the Starlings, and the Starlings only.  The Starlings, en masse, were chasing all the other birds away!

I could not afford continuing to supply the Starlings with new cakes once or twice a day.  So I had an idea.  What if I put a suet feeder on my porch, an area that is more heavily trafficked by humans?  Perhaps the Starlings would be intimidated from feeding there.

I share my porch with my two next-door neighbors; so there are three of us who commonly traverse it on our ways to and from the insides of our apartments.  In fact, my neighbors’ door is only a few inches from mine; we use the same landing when we step outside.

So I looked in my kitchen cabinet, dug out my last empty suet cage, which happened to have a chain attached to it, and decided to hang it from the porch rail.  There was one problem, however.  The chain was not long enough for it to go around the rail.

Fortunately, I am a jewelry maker and found an inexpensive gold-plated chain in my supplies.  I attached the chain to the feeder’s existing chain, and voila!  The chain was long enough.

I filled the suet cage with the one remaining homemade peanut butter cake and took it out onto the porch.  One of the Mockingbirds was perching, in its usual fashion, on the tree by the driveway, attempting to guard the feeder on the tree.  I called to the Mockingbird and showed it the new cake inside the feeder.

You might wonder what type of call I made to the Mockingbird.  It was the same musical “Hello-oh” that I had been voicing to the Mockingbirds for the last several weeks, and I’m sure the Mockingbird recognized it.

As soon as I showed the Mockingbird the new feeder containing the new suet cake, I attached the feeder to the porch rail and returned inside my apartment, closing the door behind me.  As I peeked out my blinds, the Mockingbird IMMEDIATELY landed on the porch rail and proceeded to help itself at the feeder!

I then cracked the door to take a picture, at which point the Mockingbird was becoming alarmed at my close presence.  I quickly snapped the shutter without having time to frame the photo or focus the image.

Hoping to get a better photo, I proceeded out to the porch.  Unfortunately, that caused the Mockingbird to take flight; so I returned inside to my apartment.

After several tries of re-entering my apartment and exiting again in hopes of getting more photos, I noticed that the first Mockingbird must have told its mate about the new feeder.  Both birds were sitting on the fence, not far from the porch.

The two Mockingbirds must have realized that they had been given a treasure.  They immediately proceeded to protect that treasure by peering in all directions in case another bird might decide to avail itself of the newly found food.

Finally, both Mockingbirds flew to the porch.  One bird proceeded to eat at the feeder while the other bird stood guard duty.  The photo below shows both birds although it may be difficult to see the bird at the feeder. 

 

My taking of the photos must have intimidated the one Mockingbird from eating because it soon took flight.  But the second bird remained on the porch to continue to guard the feeder.

Unfortunately, after I re-entered my apartment, I peeked through the blinds and observed a couple of Starlings at the feeder with one of the Mockingbirds attempting to chase them off.  I stepped out onto the porch again, causing the Starlings to fly away.  The Mockingbird flew to the nearby fence.

Over the next few days while I was outside, but near the porch, I occasionally noticed the two Mockingbirds feeding from the new porch feeder.  Judging by the slow rate at which the cake was being consumed, it seemed that the problem had been solved.  Perhaps my strategy had been successful, and the few Starlings who might have attempted to feed at the cake on the porch were being chased away by the Mockingbirds.

I was hoping that the new cake would last for at least a week.  However, at the end of four days, most of it had been consumed.  And at the end of five days it was gone.

This time I had no more homemade cakes to put out.  I went to Southern States and purchased a variety pack of commercial suet cakes.  One of them was labeled “Peanut Butter”; so I refilled the porch feeder with that cake.

I began to think that I finally had a system going.  I would continue feeding the Mockingbirds the cakes they love, but feed them on the porch where the Starlings did not feel comfortable because of the frequency of human traffic.

Unfortunately, however, it has now been a week, and the entire suet cake that I purchased at Southern States is still there!  Apparently, birds are like humans; there are certain foods that they do not like to eat.  

Next time I make homemade peanut butter cakes, I will reserve them for hanging on the porch, one by one.  In the meantime, I have five suet feeders hanging from the trees around the building.  I checked them today, and they all appear to be at least half full.

So there is ample food for the birds, even with the snowfall we are expecting tomorrow.  And if the birds consume the tree-hung suet cakes before I can replace them, they are welcome to land on the porch and start partaking of the cake that is hanging there!

I first began having intimate encounters with wild birds when Barn Swallows nested on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  During those encounters, I became convinced that humans and birds can develop meaningful rapports, communicate with each other, and enjoy mutually beneficial relationships.  You can read about my experiences in Bonding with the Barn Swallows, available at Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494481464/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494481464&linkCode=as2&tag=barnswalfrie-20&linkId=UWK65NAR2XUXEJWL.

Where are the Mockingbirds?

by Adele Barger Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows
Photos and text © 2015 Adele Wilson

Happy New Year!  Each year carries a different type of energy, and this year is no exception.  On the very day of the Winter Solstice, December 21, 2014, the Mockingbirds, who were still guarding all of my feeders, gave me a precious gift by posing for me on the spruce tree while I was sitting on the porch.  The male is on the upper left, with the female on the lower right.

On New Year's morning, the pair of Mockingbirds again greeted me.  I had become accustomed to them by this time and had even forgiven them for chasing other birds from the feeders.  After all, they had only been exercising their deeply ingrained instincts for guarding their food supplies.

That morning the Mockingbirds were perching on their favorite tree -- the tree on which I had traditionally placed my feeders for over a year, but also the tree that they had begun to fiercely guard in October.  This had caused me to place feeders on three additional trees around my building.

As I watched the Mockingbirds from my porch, they proceeded to take turns eating from the feeder, one bird eating with the other bird guarding the tree from a higher branch. 

However, those were the last photos I was able to take of the Mockingbirds!  A few days later, they were no longer in sight.  I would go outside several times a day and look for them, but I couldn't find them anywhere.

In the meantime, there was a prediction of snowfall for Tuesday, January 6th.  I began to remember that I had seen no Mockingbirds last winter during our many weeks of snow cover.

Do Mockingbirds migrate elsewhere to avoid snowfall?  I do not know the answer to this question, but all sources that I've read say that these birds stay in place during the winter.  Yet, there are many questions about birds that ornithologists cannot yet answer.

Interestingly, around the same time that the Mockingbirds disappeared, I began to occasionally see a Blue Jay sampling each of the suet cakes at my various feeders.  "A Blue Jay!", I thought.  Last winter, there were no Blue Jays at all visiting my feeders!  This had been quite a shock to me because Blue Jays had been at my feeders during March 2013 when I first put the feeders out.

Do Blue Jays chase Mockingbirds from their territories?  I have read that, instead, it is the other way around.  It is said to be the Mockingbirds who chase the Blue Jays away, not vice versa.

On the morning of January 6th, it was indeed snowing, just as had been forecast.  I stepped outside early and glimpsed some type of large bird at the feeder on the Mockingbirds' primary tree, the tree from which they had been feeding on the morning of January 1st.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some type of skirmish.  The larger bird on the feeder had chased another bird away.

Unfortunately, the entire incident lasted for only about two seconds, and I was therefore unable to observe details.  My memory is that of seeing a large, light blue bird on the feeder.  This might have been the light blue of a Blue Jay's breast.

Later that morning while the snow was still falling, I observed a pair of Blue Jays eating from the feeder on the smaller mimosa tree.  I have termed this tree "Tree #2" because it is the first additional tree on which I had placed a new feeder in October.

I had never seen two Blue Jays simultaneously at any of my feeders!  During March 2013 only a single Blue Jay would visit my feeder.

Along with the Blue Jays, I observed a Cardinal, a White-Throated Sparrow, and Dark Eyed Juncos eating from the feeder on the tree that had, for three months, been the Mockingbirds' primary tree.  So things have definitely changed for the New Year.  To the right is a photo of a Cardinal and a White-Throated Sparrow sharing what had been the Mockingbirds' primary feeder only five days previously.

I have learned that in the world of birds, nothing is entirely predictable.  One can read the results of ornithological studies, but these results are based on past averages and trends.  Even the geographical ranges of birds can change.

In her remarkable, beautifully illustrated book, The Bluebird Effect, Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds, songbird rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose states just that.   On page 21, she comments that "... birds, their distribution and behavior, are much more fluid than we realize" and that "... almost nothing where birds are concerned is set in stone...."  This hardback book is quite reasonably priced, and I heartily recommend it.  You can preview and discover more about this book by clicking on its image.



Each year can indeed be different.  For the past three months, my yard and it surrounding territory was dominated by one single pair of Mockingbirds.  Now an entirely new scenario seems to have unfolded!

Time will tell if and when the Mockingbirds return.  You can easily follow this blog by entering your email address at the top right.  In the meantime, I wish all of you a peaceful, prosperous, and fulfilling New Year.

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Wild birds are not dumb!  They are sentient beings who often communicate specific things to humans.  You can read about how I determined this to be a fact based on my intimate experiences with Barn Swallows as described in my book, Bonding with the Barn Swallows.