Purple finch on feeder

There are quite a few purple finches visiting the feeders these days. They often accompany quite a few house sparrows. Mixed in with the sparrows there are sometimes pine siskins as well. This is a photo of a purple finch on my smaller feeding station. The larger one was blown off and blown to pieces in the process!

First Fall Junco

The first Junco appeared yesterday just in time for fall to start. There will probably be a lot more within a few days. They stay around for quite a few weeks before continuing their journey south.

Plenty of house sparrows are visiting these days even though there must be plenty of grain out in the fields. There are also quite a few chickadees and today I saw a couple of red-breasted nuthatches.

Several purple finches..

There have been a half dozen or so purple finches visiting the feeder lately. I gather that most go south for the winter so they may be passing through although they could stay around for a while yet. There are no sign of juncos coming back yet. The purple finch females have no raspberry colour. I had seen some of them before but did not quite know what they were but now I see them together with the males and see them in my identification book it is clear that they are female purple finches.

Half a dozen Northern Flickers

The other day there were about half a dozen northern flickers around the yard busy hunting on the lawn for grubs. This is the largest group I have ever seen of these birds. Usually there is just a single bird or a couple around.

The bird feeder is visited by many house sparrows these days but also by pine siskins and black capped chickadees. The last couple of days there have also been some Savannah sparrows.

Geese are already starting south...

The other evening I was outside just before dark and heard the sound of Canada Geese honking as they flew over. This is a sure sign fall is coming. There seem to be more chickadees at the bird feeder lately as well after being not so common all summer.

Red Wing Blackbirds swarming...

Over the last couple of weeks we have seen many swarms of red-wing blackbirds as we have passed marshy areas. Apparently the red-wings fly south in segregated flocks of males and females. Perhaps this arose because of fights between the males and females over proper routes to take!

Last Hummingbird of the Season

I took down the hummingbird feeder yesterday as the nights are getting too cold for them to stay. I have heard that it is not a good idea to leave the feeders up too late because it encourages the birds to stay too late and may result in some being killed by the cold nights. This is my last 2008 photo taken three days ago. We have noticed several hummingbirds looking for the feeder in the last day or so.

I have replaced my old broken feeder with a smaller feeder for now but I intend to set up a different feeder on a pole before the ground freezes.

Northern Flicker on the lawn..

We had nothing like Gustav over the weekend but we did have wind and driving rain. We had so much wind that my poor decrepit feeder repaired with duct tape finally disintegrated when it was blown from its stand. I have replaced it by a smaller feeder for now but I will retrieve a better feeder on a sturdy post from my other property once the weather improves.
This morning I saw a Northern Flicker exploring the lawn. Maybe the rain makes the lawn a better picking ground for insects or perhaps the Flicker even eats worms. I don't really know. The flicker is a very attractive bird and the only woodpecker I gather that is a ground feeder.