Backyard Birds, Saint Joseph, Missouri

[Larry Lade]

After lunch at home today there was a flurry of bird activity in our Saint Joseph, Missouri, yard from approximately 1:30 PM until 2:15 PM.

Forty-five (45) minutes of unabated bird watching!

Brenda and I saw sixteen (16) species of birds in and * flying over our yard.

Birds seen listed in no particular order:
American Robin - 10 to 15
Blue Jay - 10
Brown Creeper - 3/4
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3/4
Hairy Woodpecker -1 male
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Northern Cardinal - 5
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 2
House Sparrow - 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Hermit Thrush - 1
* Chimney Swift - several flyovers

All is quiet again now with hardly any birds in the yard!

* We do not have feeders of any kind currently in our backyard, but will probably be putting some up shortly. (We would like to get a repeat of the Red Crossbills we had visiting our feeders last winter!)

[Gretchen]

You must have some nice habitat to attract all those birds. I'm especially envious of having a Brown Creeper (I've yet to see one - much less as a yard bird!). Were the kinglets, nuthatch, chickadee and warbler (and hermit thrush?) sort of a little flock? Great views - an unforgettable hour I would think.

[Larry Lade]

All the birds seen to be in a flock of some sort! While I have seen foraging flocks of birds before they usually seen to be of similar species like chickadee, kinglets, warblers, etc.). This flock in the yard yesterday had many different types of species associated with it!

Astonishingly, today I did not see a single bird in our yard! Kind of eerie! I only saw some "flyovers"; American Crow, European Starling, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbirds, American Robin and Chimney Swift.

[delia todd]

That was a real busy hour for you Larry, with some nice birds.

Strange how it goes though, isn't it - where do they all disappear to?

D

[KCFoggin]

So you only put up feeders during the winter months Larry?

[Larry Lade]

Delia, who can understand all the ways of the wily birds? Here one day, gone the next!

KC, we usually keep the feeders out most of the year, but we were getting so many Common Grackles and House Sparrows and not much else that we did take the feeders down for awhile.

[Gretchen]

All the birds seen to be in a flock of some sort! ... Astonishingly, today I did not see a single bird in our yard! Kind of eerie!

I guess that mob must have cleared out all your insects! You'll have to wait for them to replenish before you get more of those birds again ;)

[Larry Lade]

Gretchen, perhaps you are right about the insects being in the yard and need to be replenished for the birds to return. Be that as it may, I put out some bird feeder yesterday and now have to go buy some bird seed. I am hoping that then at least some of the birds will come back to our yard.

[Gretchen]

Larry, I'm sure you'll get some back with your bird seed (and suet for woodpeckers?). Your story reminded me of two weeks ago in the woods when I saw a dozen warblers that spent at least 15 minutes on one particular (medium small) tree. I was just amazed that they didn't move on. Then I looked at the leaves on the trees and could see that there was serious infestation there. Probably your trees have not gotten to that stage where they support so much bug life - at least many try to avoid that in our yards :-O

Anyway, here's hoping you see some feathered friends back soon. Your list was such a nice reminder of yard birds (plus a few) which I've enjoyed in PA.

Gretchen

[Larry Lade]

Well, I did put out the feeders again a week or two ago and quite a few species of birds are coming back into our yard. Today's list is: Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, European Starling, House Finch, Carolina Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, American Goldfinch and Black-capped Chickadee. Also had "flyover" American Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds.