Saturday, November 29, 2008

Bird of dawn and dusk

One of the many benefits of participating in Project Feederwatch is that over time you can observe the patterns in your birds' populations and habits.

One pattern I have observed with our Northern Cardinals is that they are most populous at our feeders at dawn and dusk. They do come in during the day, especially during snowy weather, but I get my highest counts at dawn or dusk, guaranteed. I haven't yet figured out why that is... don't even have any guesses. But it is interesting.

I really enjoy the Cardinal - I think it's a striking bird. I might be slightly biased though, with the Cardinal being the state bird of Ohio and all... Here are some photos from previous FeederWatch seasons that I hope you'll enjoy.


Backlit Northern Cardinal


Northern Cardinal being forced to reconsider its landing by an American Tree Sparrow.


"I hate this stinkin' snow!"


Glamour Shots... yur doin' it rite!

What patterns and habits are you observing at your feeders?
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2 comments:

Shelley said...

I so loved and enjoyed your shots - especially of the female cardinal! She holds a special place in my heart - there is one that visits me in my yard that seems particularly scrappy. Your tree sparrow better give her some room! ha,ha!

RuthieJ said...

Whoa - that's one scrappy little sparrow!
When I was counting for FeederWatch, I learned to wait until almost dark to count the maximum number of cardinals too. They're such neat birds.

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