Well, the Grackles and Starlings are happily noshing away at what are supposed to be “grackle resistant feeders.” The short feeding posts make it difficult for them but what’s a little extra flapping when good chow is the reward. Oh well, the Yellow Headed Black Birds, the Red Winged Blackbirds and the Morning Doves all enjoy ground feeding on the spillage from excessive feeder swinging caused by the frenzied grackle flapping. Did you know the red winged blackbirds can’t commit and service up to 15 females. I guess this means they aren’t much help feeding the chicks lest they drop dead rotating amongst the nests. Yellow Headed Blackbirds nest in colonies primarily in marshes which is why we see them in wet fields/ditches/sloughs; both males and females in this species feed the nestlings.
The smaller song birds somehow figure out how to feed successfully between grackle flocking with those most prominent right now the Sparrows who can clean out a feeder almost as fast as the Grackles. I would like to draw more Yellow Finches to the feeders. The nyjer thistle seed doesn’t seem to be doing it so I might add black oil sunflower seeds to the feeder. Maybe they are scared away by the Grackles and I should move the feeder. I also read putting water out for drinking and bathing would draw them to feeding stations and maybe they don’t like lake water any more than we do for those purposes. I also read they nest later in the season to take advantage of seeds and grains more available in the fall so I will keep a better eye out for them then. The following flowers produce seeds finches like to munch on in the late summer and fall: asters, black-eyed Susan’s, coneflowers, cosmos, daisies, goldenrod, marigolds, poppies, sunflowers and zinnias. Due to their bright yellow color, playful acrobatics and melodic bird song, the American Goldfinch is so beloved that Iowa, New Jersey and Washington all claim it as their state bird.
We see the occasional Downy Woodpecker (smallest in species) and Rose Breasted Grosbeak (cardinal family) but they are both sporadic skittish feeders. They both nest in tall deciduous trees so should be prevalent here at the lake; maybe if I spent more time behind the binoculars I could spot them in the tree tops. Finally, Nuthatches and Chickadees are lovely birds to watch but more prevalent in cooler weather with sunflower and safflower seeds their food of choice. I’ve already written about the pelicans, cormorants and nesting eagles so will have to rustle up a new subject once we return from a family wedding back in northern Arizona where I hope we will beat the heat in the cool pines.